Wolves and Kadan
by Angel Davis
Summary: Ion felt warmth flood her body. Her clothing shattered and floated around her as skin was replaced with white fur. Blunt teeth replaced with white points, four legs supported her great body, and her eyes flooded with gold. Has dark themes, Lemon.
1. Chapter 1

The vial smashed to the ground. Its contents spilling from the glass that clinked and shattered to the hard frozen ground, and the frost temporarily washed away by the contents of the vile. Maroon red liquid washed over in a splatter wave consuming everything in its path until the momentum was expired and it settled in a pool at their feet. What little magic was in the vile wisped and floated up into the air to dissipate and expire as its usefulness came to an end. Thus, Jowan was free.

She stood, transfixed at the blood that came from the vial. She ignored Jowan, and his victory dance that he had started and it stopped with him kissing Lily passionately. Ion turned away from them both in disgust, knowing that their joy and happiness was only going to last in this dungeon, she knew this was their last moment of a certain future.

_They are waiting for them at the top of the stairs… _she thought, she could smell them, and hear the clanging through the stone of the roof of the halls.

"We must be going, there was a spell on that vial and it's only a matter of time before they come to this place." She hissed, and walked toward the door to throw the once locked door open. Whatever enchantment that had held it closed was long gone.

"Wait up!" Jowan called, and his and Lily's footfalls soon echoed behind her.

She did not wait. The faster they got out of this room that stank of blood, the faster she could go to the peace of her own room. Her room that was barred from the rest of the entire tower, filled with books and pillows. Soon Jowan caught up and put a hand on her shoulder, a friendly gesture that was lost on her. She glared at him, letting her other half come up into her eyes so that they changed into a golden color. His face lost none of its joy, but his hand slipped from her shoulder to thread its fingers with Lily's available hand.

"Thank you. I cannot begin to express my gratitude for you helping us…" He said.

They had reached the first door. She looked at both the chantry sister and him. She said nothing to them as she climbed another set of stairs. They followed, but no longer said anything to her. She could hear them whispering about their plans now that they were free. It made her stomach twist in guilt. She had betrayed them, and they would find out very soon.

As soon as they cleared the final door and up the stairs to the room adjacent to the library the Templars attacked. They were crouched weapons drawn with shields at the ready, ready to restrain and kill whoever they needed to. Ion felt her throat constrict, but she remained standing tall. She was here for them after all.

"Wha- what's going on?" Jowan stuttered, his whole body was crouched in a defensive position.

Magic was useless when a templar drained his mana, his spell hit Ion who was in range, but it was useless to her. She was healer, not an elemental or any other thing like that, it would drain her mana yes, but drain her strength no.

"Lookie here, an initiate conspiring with a blood mage… I should've known." The slight clanging of amour showed that the Knight-commander had arrived. Ion slowly walked up the stairs as soon as she made it to the top, the First Enchanter made his own appearance. A looked passed between them, his eyes twinkled with pride and some other dark emotion.

"You were right this time, she seems shocked but fully in control… I am disappointed in you Lily." He spat at the girl, who cowered behind Jowan.

She had a moment to tense, when a iron fist gripped her upper arm and dragged her out of the circle of armed metal men. She struggled until his scent rushed into her flared nostrils. Cullen. She submitted immediately. His grip upon her arms softened, and she could tell that he didn't want to hurt her, just to make sure that she looked restrained.

"Sir? Should I take her back to her room?" Cullen asked, his voice was slightly muffled under his helm, but it was him nonetheless.

The Knight-Commander just waved his hand in their direction. Cullen took this as a yes and began to lead her from the room. Once in the hall his hands released her upper arms and he walked beside her. He knew of the part that she had played, and had treated her as he should have. If Jowan had known that she had played a part in his demise he would've put up more of a fight. Getting her out of there had hit two birds with one stone.

But when they were close to the stairs that would lead them to the second floor, she felt the Fade shift and something dark come with the swell of power that made her stop in her tracks. Cullen stood over her looking down at her through his helm. She turned and looked passed him, and he turned around to look to where she was looking.

"Sir Cullen? Can you feel that?" She asked him.

"The mage is putting up a fight." He said, no emotion in his voice, "Look it's died down again, he has been subdued."

What Cullen could not sense, she could. He was moving, him and Lily. They had fought and won over the templars. She felt a snarl rise in her chest as she clenched her hands, drawing her blood. She had a choice. She could let them get away, or she could go and stop them. The scent of blood filled her nostrils, and having already smelled his blood once that day she knew what it meant. Blood magic.

Before she knew what was happening she was moving down the halls. She came to the front doors, they had been thrown open and left there by the fleeing couple. Ion didn't pause as she passed the templars, she had almost no mana so she was no use to them, they would survive if they got help soon.

The wind hit her nose, for the first time she felt the outside air wrap around her as she crossed the path with the rocks to the shore. They had almost made it. She knelt to the ground and summoned her other part. Her other half.

Ion felt warmth flood her body. Her clothing shattered and floated around her as skin was replaced with white fur. Blunt teeth replaced with white points, four legs supported her great body, and her eyes flooded with gold.

She had her throat laid open in the time it took Lily to raise her weapon to try to strike. Jowan looked at her with pleading eyes, his body showed no aggressive action despite his lover just being killed. He had given up.

She lunged, tasting salty blood when her strike hit him. Again and again she ripped him with her teeth and claws, and soon he was reduced to nothing. Her jaws; once white were painted with crimson as she looked down at the lump of flesh that she had called friend, but friends do not betray one another, do not keep secrets, and do not abandon one another. He had lost her friendship a long time ago, she had known of his blood magic for she could smell it upon him as well as the perfume that his lover wore. She had gone to Irving who had signed the form, but after that the sister had seen it, and she had to come up with a new plan, one that would take them both out of existence. For he was not her friend, she had no friends.

She could see the templars coming down the shore. The Knight-Commander leading them down the side of the shore. They also had Irving in their mists as they walked to her and her bloody mess. But she could see that they were not getting any closer, even though they were walking to her.

Three knocks answered her question for her. The whole dream rippled, and tried to continue, but the knocks continued. Soon the dream was fading and she woke up.

She was in Redcliff. She remembered.

She was a Grey Warden, a mage that had been recruited. She was one of the last Grey Wardens left in the whole of Ferelden. Her and Alistair had been charged with the task of ending this Blight and they had gone to Arl Eamon's estate first to gain his support. On the way they had recruited a witch mage named Morrigan; who could shift like Ion but her form was not as large or natural as Ion's. The Chantry sister named Leliana, who had a very good shot for a chantry sister; Ion had suspected that she had doe eyes for Alistair who seemed a little oblivious to her advances however subtle they were. The Assassin elf who had a tongue as sharp as his blades; he learned that Ion did not like his advances and her wolf did not enjoy them either, so instead of flirting with her, he sparred with them and she quickly made friends with him. The last person, but certainly not the last that they would recruit on this journey was a Qunari by the name of Sten, he also sparred with her, or more he sparred with her Wolf that was faster and stronger than any "normal" creature.

Sten would not let her heal him with magic, but would welcome any potions that she made, and would let her wrap him up. He approved that she did not fight in her normal form, and was surprised by her strength and wild like nature in her wolf form. It was as large as he was, or maybe larger than him. She could look into his brown eyes with her golden ones when in her four legged form. Unlike when she was in her two legged form, she was stuck with looking at his chest.

Ion had liked Redcliff, it was a bustling town with many people, busy shops, and the people were not hostile as she would've thought. Eamon had welcomed them with open arms, and had quickly given them safe harbor and shelter. This let them look around the town while Alistair tried to think of what would come next, they had all given their opinions and hers and Leliana's would be the most weighted.

"Wolf!" came a deep boom from behind the thick wooden door. She jumped, she had forgotten that she had a visitor.

"In a moment!" She called throwing off her covers and she quickly made her way across the chamber to the door.

When the door opened she looked into the chest plate of the Qunari vanguard. She looked up into the stern gaze of the Sten.

"You are late."

She felt confused. "For what, Sten? I have nothing that I need to do today, unless you know of something that I do not…"

"You agreed last night that you would spar with the Elf and I this morning at sunrise."

_I had? I don't remember agreeing to that…_ She looked behind her outside the windows in her room to see that it was still dark.

"I don't remember that. But if I did agree to that, then why did you wake me up before sunrise? How would I be late if it's not even sunrise yet?"

Sten crossed his arms. "I was referring to answering the door, Wolf. You took several minutes, and it does not look like you used it to try to find suitable clothing."

She looked down, and felt heat rush to her face. She was wearing nothing, she was completely naked. The only thing that covered her was her long white hair with grey tips, and that only covered her breasts. She was not that modest of a person, and her friends had all seen her naked because when she changed her clothing burst from her body as her wolf emerged, but she still was a little uncomfortable when she was undressed in front of the stern gaze of the Qunari.

"I was… deep in thought."

"It would seem so. We also have a task, will you wear what you are wearing or will you put on clothing?"

"Where are we going?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well… yes. If we are just going out for a stroll, I would prefer to walk on four legs instead of two. If we are going into town then I will put on clothing… but I guess I could go on four legs instead…" She muttered to herself. Sten sighed.

"We are going into town to the pub. The Warden, Bard, and Elf had yet to return from their activities from the night before and the Arl has asked for us to fetch them."

She stepped aside and motioned for him to come into the room. She had remembered that they had said something about a bar last night, but she had been curled up in a ball in front of the Arl's fireplace so she did not really seem to care. Maybe that's why she had no memory of saying yes to Sten's challenge of a spar at sunrise.

She walked over to her folded pile of clothing and pulled on her smalls. She ignored her mage's robes and settled for a simple long sleeved tunic and a pair of worn leggings. She left her boots where they were, for she somehow sensed that she would have to change tonight or she would need to change before the night was over.

"Alright, let's go." She said, letting him take the lead out of her room.

They quickly made their way outside and to the local pup in town. She hated these places, her sensitive nose picked up the stench of the place from several yards away from the front door, and when she entered it became even more concentrated. She found her party quickly, seeing as how they were all passed out on the table in the middle of the room. Bottles and tankards littered the floor and table around their table, and cards and money were stacked around them. She marched over and gripped Zevran's hair and yanked his head back from the table. He mumbled something, but did not awaken. They were piss drunk.

She sighed with irritation letting go of the elf's hair and letting his head slam to the table.

"Sten, if I cure them of their hangovers, will they learn anything?"

"No, Wolf."

"If I leave them with splitting headaches and burning insides they won't learn anything either right?"

"The lesson did no stick the last time they did this."

"Do you think that it'll work this time?"

"We would have to carry them back to the castle this time if you do not cure them." He said. He had a point.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine, I will wake them and cure them. Do you wish to go outside while I do this, or do you want to watch because I'm pretty sure that this will be pretty funny to watch." She said.

Sten did not like her magic, he told her that he could sense that her other form was a part of herself and not the magic that Morrigan used when she had transformed those many times. Of course Ion only had one form, and Morrigan had many, but Ion's form was quite larger than her own wolf form. Point being, Sten did not like magic… one bit.

He stood there for a moment before saying, "I will stay."

She nodded, not showing her surprise at him staying. She gathered her energy and blue light erupted from her hands. She savagely gripped the back of Leliana's and Zevran's heads and they both yelped as their eyes flew open. She had cured them, but her magic had the effect of them having a cold bucket of water dumped on them effectively making them wake up out of their sleep. They looked around in surprise, and then both at the same time yawned. She made her way to Alistair and did the same to him.

He yelped like the others, but his reflexes made him fall with a clatter from the chair and onto the dirty floor. He grinned sheepishly at her as he looked up at her very irritated face.

"Hey…you." He said. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't give me that shit. Next time you get piss drunk I'm not saving you ass. The Arl is expecting you in a meeting in a few hours so get you ass to the castle to sleep. All three of you go." She snarled at them.

Alistair quickly got up and walked with Leliana out. Zevran tried to grab a half full bottle of wine, but stopped at her glare. He quickly let it go and walked out of the bar. She sighed and picked up the money on the table, it was at least two sovereigns worth. She grabbed it knowing that it was not part of the group sum it was from the pockets of the three that had been piss drunk she gave it to the bar maid Bella.

Bella looked at her with wide eyes when she took the money. "For the mess, miss. I am sorry for my friends." She explained. Bella's face broke off into a smile.

"Don't worry about it hun they're harmless compared to some of the locals. If you ever need anything, just let me know alright; and if you need a pint just come by."

"Trust me, I won't ever need a pint. Me drunk is a bad idea, lucky the smell alone is enough to put me off from the stuff forever. But I might come by for some juice when you have it." She said, smiling.

"That we have plenty of… and if you want to come in… the other form, Lloyd said it was alright."

"I'll remember that." She said. "Thank you again for putting up with them!"

Back at the castle, the sun had risen, and after a long training session Sten let her go on about her business. She had gone to the room and changed out of her clothes and into her giant four legged form. Now she was in her favorite spot, on a rug in the main hall curled up in front of the fire, waiting for some person (The Arlessa most likely) to shoo her out of here and outside like a common animal.

Morrigan had come down, and with a book on her lap she leaned against the great white wolf while she read the book. Ion suspected that she didn't like the company of people, but since she was more animal the witch didn't mind her company, as long as there was no talking. If Ion was quiet then Morrigan would sometimes read to her, or if she was really good then Morrigan would absentmindedly pet her fur. Ion loved the attention that it would bring when that happened. Today Morrigan did both to her.

Soon, as the castle woke up people started to fill the room. Ion did somewhat like the Arl, although she did not like the fact that he constantly would refer to Alistair as the king when he had said that he had no need for the title. She had come to one of their meetings and had to be "excused" and two guards had to drag her out because she was getting so angry at the Arl for pushing the royal crown onto Alistair. She also thought that he was very kind and forgiving along with being a fool. She had personally seen the looks that Teagan and the Arlessa had given each other, she had even smelt them on each other. She strongly disliked the Arlessa, and the Arlessa didn't like her either and the fact that Ion knew their secret didn't help anything.

So when the Arlessa made her presence known in the room, Ion huffed and she got up to leave the room despite the protests from Morrigan, she did not wish to fight with the Arlessa today so she walked around the estate gardens for a little while, enjoying the sweet floral smells of the late autumn flowers.

It was getting near winter with each passing day. They needed to get four treaties out of the way before then, and three of them were on opposite ends of the land. They would need to split up the territory if they wanted to get this done by the time the next spring came around. The Arl had started to gather enough support for a Landsmeet, and had promised to aid them as much as he could in getting prepared for fighting the Blight. She could make good time on her own, but even she could not go on her own.

She sighed, and knew that she had not helped one bit when she had told Alistair that she would not return to the Circle Tower. There was no way that she could face others with what she had done to Jowan and to Lily. The Knight Commander had been furious to learn that Jowan was a blood mage, but had not punished her too harshly, no the punishment had come from the other mages. She had killed own of her own, and now was viewed by others as a Templar Dog. She had partially jumped when Duncan had let her choose to become a Grey Warden, and had agreed instantly.

The others knew, she had told them the night that they had all camped with them. They all approved of her actions, saying that Blood Magic was evil, and only Morrigan had asked why she hadn't just killed all on the shore and escaped from her cage. She never answered that question. Now that she was free, why couldn't she just run? She had nothing that could tie her down here, no solid responsibilities. The Arl didn't even treat her as a proper Warden. They had a good group, and when they recruited more people then they would be strong enough to take on the darkspawn.

Once this was over, would she be put back in her cage? In that island tower that was filled with chains, collars, and bars. She felt something dark wash over her and a growl came through her chest. She would not submit to their rules again, she would not be caged. She would help them, and when the time came she would run until she was free from them.

She walked from the garden to a tree that was close to the lake. Beneath its empty branches she curled up and took a nap. This time she didn't dream of the past, she dreamed of a future that would promise her freedom.


	2. Chapter 2

For the next few days she worked in the castle. She may have been human, and skinny she still had greater strength than the servants in the castle. So she helped them with clearing away dust, getting laundry, cooking in the kitchens, she even was convinced to let them put a harness (they had to make one for her frame, apparently she was larger than any of the war horses in the stables) and she pulled a supply wagon up the large hill for a farmer. The road had been swamped out with mud and he could not get his horses to pull it up the hill.

On the third day, she was helping sweep up the kitchen with some of the other elven servants, she had been having a good conversation with them when the whole room went silent and they hurriedly hid behind her. She understood why in a moment, Sten had come into the room. She dusted off her hands and walked over to him, her skirts swishing around her as she looked up at him.

"Wolf." He acknowledged her.

"Sten, what's up?" She asked. He raised his eyebrow at her cleaning outfit, but did not comment on it.

"The other Warden has made his decision."

_Finally_ She nodded, not showing her relief of him making up his mind.

"So, what's the plan?" She asked him.

"We split up into two teams, you, the Elf, and I will make our way to the Dalish. He and the others will make their way to the Circle Tower. We are to meet back here in two weeks. After that we are to make our way to the Dwarven City to complete the final treaty."

"Good." She said.

He turned to leave when the Arlessa came storming into the room. Now the elves really crouched behind her.

"Why have my sheets not been cleaned!" She screeched at Ion's back, thinking her to be a servant. Sten hid a smirk of amusement as Ion slowly turned around and gave a mock curtsy.

"I am very sorry My Lady, but we have already cleaned the sheets, I myself replaced them on your bed a few hours ago. Has there been something that would _dirty_ the sheets in that amount of time?" She asked, a smirk on her face when the Arlessa's face went red with fury. She still did not recognize Ion.

"You insolent little bitch! Do not question me, or I'll allow the men to have their way with you and then throw you out of the castle without so much as a coin to your name!" She screeched.

The elves quickly went to follow her orders, but Ion did not move. She let her eyes bleed gold, and then the Arlessa recognized her. Ion's face turned into a mask of fury.

"You should learn to close you legs, My Lady, or someone might just catch on to your little bedtime explorations with the Bann when your husband is not looking." She growled at the Arlessa.

Isolde drew back her arm, and slapped the wolf across the face. Ion was not stunned, but she could taste copper blood in her mouth and she could feel her face start to bruise. It was a good hit, and she willed her body not to heal it.

"I'm not the one that is the whore here, mage. How many men have you opened you own legs to? I would bet that you stalk that bastard of a prince, just so that you can become his whore and—"

"Enough!" Ion interrupted the Arlessa's tirade. She was stunned into silence.

"You will not speak like this to me, for I am not the one that cannot control herself. Do you think that he does not know of your adultery? Go and see, he is probably livid pissed right now. He is only with you because of the son that you share… and that wont last once he finds out that you are also keeping the fact that he is a mage from your 'beloved husband'."

Isolde was stunned, her face a moment before was red with rage, but now was white with fear. Ion had known that the son was a mage because of the magic that clung to his skin. Now she knew that Isolde was truly scared. For a second Ion expected to be slapped again, or to be surrounded by guards when Isolde called them into the room, but the Arlessa just walked out of the room without another word.

Ion let out a deep breath and felt the shutter of the change go through her. The whole time she had struggled to not change and rip the Arlessa's face off of her skull. There was one thing that you did not say, and the Arlessa said it, she would not know that it was one of Ion's buttons because of her perfect poker face, but it had made her livid mad.

She took a few deep breaths, and then turned to Sten who had watched the whole thing with a blank face.

"I don't need to explain myself to anyone, but I will tell you this. I will never bed someone just for the purpose of pleasure; I have not nor will I ever open my legs just so that I can feel a think like that. Humans are over stimulated in the faces of sex, and I will have no part in it." With that she stormed from the room and to her own room at the Estate, slamming the door behind her.

That night she skipped dinner, it was foolish but she would wake up early in the morning anyway. Sten would probably wake her when he needed her in the morning and that would give her some time to hunt when they decided to go off to the Dalish.

So with one leg bent and supporting her head, and the other dangling over the side she was looking off of her balcony at the silver light that the moon cast at the lake. Her inner peace was interrupted by a hesitant knock at her door. She mentally though of who that could've been. Sten had a booming knock, Morrigan would just barge in, Zevran would just climb up the siding of the castle, so that meant that either Alistair or Leliana who was on the other side of the door. Either way she didn't want to talk to either of them, but then again what choice did she have?

"Come in…" She called, and saw Leliana slowly open the door. She saw Ion sitting out by the balcony and smiled and skipped over. Ion had no love for the chantry sister, and she suspected that the feeling was mutual.

"I just came in to see how you are doing, I noticed that you were not present at dinner…" she started, trying to break the ice between them.

The wolf could smell a lie, and that had been almost a lie. Leliana might have come up to check on Ion, but it was not because of her missing dinner.

"Leliana, I appreciate Alistair worrying about me, but if he is going to do so do ask him not to have people lie to me for an excuse to check up on me."

Leliana spluttered for a moment, for it was a very good lie and Ion felt her start another one to save face for her smelling out the first, but one gold filled glare stopped the conversation before it even started.

"Do _not_ try to lie to me again, that is one of the things to do to get on my bad side. I enjoy _killing_ liars Leliana so do heed my warning in this matter. Do it again and you'll regret it." Was all she said as she turned to look back over the balcony.

Leliana was silent for a moment before turning to walk out of the room. Ion called out to her when she was about to close the door.

"Tell him that I am fine, and my group will set out at first light tomorrow."

The door closed with a click and Ion glared down at a smiling assassin that was hanging below her on the latter of ivy that crawled up her part of the castle. He quickly climbed the rest of the way up and sat next to her feet.

"That was interesting, to say the least, bonita…" he said, she looked at him and his cheery grin faded away.

"Indulge me, Zev, have you ever lied to me?" Ion asked, locking eyes with him.

"Never." He said, and she smelled truth. That was the reason why she had made the others stay their blades, because he was truthful in his intentions.

"Precisely why I had let you live. You don't lie to me, so I trust you."

"You trust the cut throat assassin, but not the good chantry sister? I am flattered."

"That's not all, I trust the murdering Qunari because he has told me nothing but truth, and even the apostate witch that sneers at anything that we do I trust than the Chantry Sister, or her Prince in Training."

"You trust us because we tell the truth? That is all it takes to get your trust?"

"That and I know that you will never lie to me in a bad situation. Alistair and Leliana would lie to me to make the situation better, but I know that You, Sten, and Morrigan will tell me straight off what is happening without sparing any details. I know that you will never lie and for that I trust you, for those important details are what would make the battle that we fight winnable or death faces us."

"You, my Warden, are the strangest creature I have ever met."

"And you Zev, are the most truthful assassin that I have ever met." Ion said with a grin. Zevran looked at her with a grin.

"I am the _only_ assassin that you have met, well met and not ripped to pieces. I am very grateful for that by the way, not being ripped to pieces does _wonders_ to my day."

She started to laugh, her laughter was not harsh but sounded like bells in anyone who was outsides.

"I am glad to have made you day then." Ion answered.

They lapsed into silence again, and Ion sensed that there was something that was troubling Zeveran. She longed for him to speak his mind, but knew that without a push he would not do so and ruin the atmosphere that she had created around them.

"There is something troubling you." She said, and he flinched.

"Ahhh, your Warden Senses tingling?"

"More like my Wolf Senses, but you get the gist of it."

"I have a question, if I may…"

"My friend, you are welcome to speak you mind, as long as it has nothing to do with any type of mating scenario, you know my stance on anything that involves… breeding." She said with a light voice, and they lapsed into another laughing session.

"No, I was wondering what you were planning to do with me after this is all over…" he said, all joke was removed from his voice. She regarded him with the same seriousness as he did her.

"Your oath will be complete, and provided you survive you may do whatever you wish to do. If it means trying to kill me, at least give me a warning before hand so that I can put up a small fight." She said.

"You flatter me so Warden, I did not think that you would be so open to death."

"When you live a life of cadges then you will do anything to be free, even death is an option for getting out of those bars."

"My friend, you do not know how much it pains me to say that I know how you feel." He said, sadness and anguish in his voice.

"It would be this that we have in common."

They lapsed into another moment of silence when Zevran broke it again.

"Warden, where do you plan to go after this is all over?"

"When my usefulness is used up, I will choose to convert to the Qun." She said truthfully. Zevran slowly turned to stare at her. Ion did not miss the astonishment in his face, and moved to explain.

"If I am to be put in a cage again, I will choose which one it will be. I will not be slaved away by people who lie, and the Wardens and the Chantry are full of liars. I believe that even shackled among the Qunari I will be granted the truth of my cage. I may have my mouth sewn shut, my feet and arms shackled, to be collared, but they will tell me and not attempt to put me in a golden cage. I have the _freedom_ to choose my slavery, and that is what I choose."

"That is… I have no words for that Warden… I wish you luck with that, for it has given me an idea of what to do with my freedom as well."

"Promise to write, until the end, and I will do the same." She said. He nodded.

"You have my word."

They watched the night sky, until the assassin bid her a good nights rest and climbed down from her window. She watched him climb and sneak off into the night and was left to stew in her own thoughts. She quickly stopped herself and walked over to the door and closed off her balcony. She sat on her bed and knowing that she wouldn't get any sleep, and with her bag already packed and put in the corner, she waited.

She was not disappointed, and wordlessly when he arrived two hours before sunrise they went out into the courtyard to train, and when that was over they moved to pack up their belongings and to head out on the road. The Arl had them on horses, but she had refused hers. She had her own four legs, and she was too embarrassed to admit that she did not know how to ride.

They made their way to the Dalish. Their nights filled with light conversations and they settled into a sort of daily routine that complemented their skills. Ion would hunt each night, Zevran would rub down the horses, Sten would get the fire going and after that they would all pitch the tents after sharing her kill. They would sleep and wake up at sunrise to mount the horses and begin it all again.

It only took them three days to reach the Dalish. In that three days they had grown closer as a group and Ion was able to observe several different things about her two party members. Sten seemed content with his sword, but there was something that was wrong with it, she couldn't figure it out, but he always looked at the sword with resentment. Zevran seemed more… well light hearted around her. His joking nature was never really an issue, but he was more "brotherly" as the journey went on, she would rather that than a suitor trying to get into her pants. Both of the men seemed to look after her more closely.

It was when they finally came to the edge of the Dalish camp that Ion could sense something was wrong. They should've been stopped hours ago when they had even gotten close to the elf's camp, but there was no sentry group until they reached the very edge of their camp. When they reached the edge of the camp the wind shifted and Ion could smell it. There was death and blood in the air. Sharp scents of magic and curses also lingered along with the perfume of suffering and fear. They had come to a dying camp, and Ion could see and smell tracks that were foreign along with familiar to her.

She had changed to human and road along with Zevran. She hated horses, but did this because she did not want the Dalish to attack before she got a chance to speak her piece. Now she was glad she did because the scent of some sort of wolf hung heavy in the still air.

The cry of an arrow came through the trees landing just in front of their horse. A warning shot.

"Halt! You will come no closer, human!" Came the cry of one of their warriors. She came out with two others who had arrows trained upon the horses. Sten pulled his giant mount to the side and gripped his sword with one hand.

"We mean you no harm." Ion stated calmly, they didn't lower their bows an inch. She was not surprised.

"Wolf…" Sten growled as Ion got tired of staring the elf down and dismounted rather clumsily to the ground and got as close to eye level as she could to the elf.

"We are here to honor their agreement in terms of a treaty." Ion said, pulling out the scroll that had the treaty for the elves from the Wardens.

"What? We have no obligations to you Shems…" The elf said, but trailed off when she looked upon the document and realized that it was not for humans but for the Grey Wardens.

"So you're a Grey Warden, then shem?" She asked and Ion nodded. She sensed Zevran dismount behind her and came to flank her. Sten stayed upon his horse, but she knew that if there was a chance of trouble he would charge the small elves with his great grey warhorse.

"How do I know you're telling the truth then?" The elf asked with a shrug of her shoulders. She held out the document and Ion took it from her.

"You see many people pretending to be Wardens?" Zevran asked her. She glared at him, and Ion quickly brought the elf's attention back to herself.

"Your going to have to trust us, I am a Grey Warden and these are my companions… please let us just talk to your leader and then we will not trouble you anymore." She pleaded.

The elf slowly signaled for her companions to lower their weapons. They did so hesitantly as the elf looked at her. Ion turned around and grabbed Zevran who was giving the stone faced elf a thorough look up and down, and dragged him over to Sten who was still mounted.

"Both of you are going to stay here until I am done, down worry they will not attack me if they value their lives. I will come and get you later, if you need to make camp a few leagues out so that you will not disturb the elves."

"You believe that the conversation will take that long?" Sten asked her, obviously displeased by that piece of information.

"No, but I think that it might take me that long to convince him that I come in peace and that we need their support if we are going to defeat the Blight."

She grabbed her pack from the dapple grey mare and her staff. She strapped it to her back and walked over to the elf who seemed to have given her two archers orders to shoot the others if they even put a toe out of line. Ion waited until she was done and signaled for her to lead her into the camp.

"Behave yourself shem, our arrows are trained upon you."

"Good to know…" Ion said as she slowly followed the elf into the camp.


	3. Chapter 3

She rubbed her temple as she listened to Zathrian's story. He was lying to her, and he was doing it in such a fashion that it was a lie almost every other sentence. She was getting tired of it. She had the urge to snarl and kill him, but that wouldn't get her what she wanted so she listened to his story of woe, looked at his infected clan mates that had been involved in the first wave of the attacks, and agreed to help him with his werewolf problem.

She knew that there was a lot more to his story, which was why she wanted to talk to Sten and Zevran about it, but she had to do it without the many ears of the Clan so she refused the offer of sharing a camp and walked back to her companions and mouthed up and road to the camp sight that she had a found a few leagues away.

They knew that she was livid pissed under her calm exterior demeanor so the trip was made in silence. They left her to stew on a rock while they preformed the night chores and settled in to eat for the first time food rations that the Arl had supplied them. When they were done with their meal she looked at Zevran who looked back at her.

"We are all alone, Warden." He said, confirming what she believed.

"Good, I apologize for not speaking of this earlier bu—"

"You are upset about something, Wolf, we gathered this." Sten interrupted her. Ion sighed.

"Yes, sorry. He… their leader, I don't trust him. He lied too many times in his story for me to fully believe that the creatures that are attacking their clan are evil." She said, as she looked at their faces.

"Do you say this because of your background as a… creature like this?" Sten asked, he was careful with his words as she was still quite angry about something.

"No." She spat, her eyes flared up for a moment before settling back down again. "I just have no patience for liars, I have no fear of what the elf will do to me if he found that I am like those creatures."

"Then what is bothering you?" Sten asked.

She felt a small sliver of surprise break through her mood. Had she been that obvious? She didn't think so, but there was always a chance that she had been.

"It's this Witherfang. I know that something like this cannot happen unless a powerful force is at hand. My gift was given to me because of my family line, the eldest will have both the Gift and this power, but to have a Wolf that has the power to make others similar to it with its curse… there is more here than the leader is giving us."

"You know for sure that he is lying?" Sten asked, she nodded.

"Then we should consider our next move very cautiously, for we do need our allies for the Blight."

She sighed, "I know, Sten. Believe me when I say that I will do what the elf asks us, but I don't trust his intentions until I hear how Witherfang came to be."

"Then we should all get a goods night rest. Who wants first watch?" Zevran asked them both. Sten grunted, and Zevran ended up taking first watch while Sten retired to his tent.

Ion just sat there staring into the flames of the fire before getting up and grabbing bathing supplies. She had seen a lake a small walk away and she was craving solitude along with washing the grime that coated her skin from three days of riding.

She came to the lake, and she quickly stripped letting the moon bathe her skin in its pale light. Her white hair was soon swimming in the water as she waded into the lake. It wasn't as cold as she had originally thought it was going to be and with a mighty breath she plunged through the surface to swim to the depths and back to the surface. She did this again and again. With each time she spiraled to the depths enjoying the feeling of the lake against her skin. When she had exhausted herself with swimming she went to the shore to grab her soap.

A snap of a twig was the only thing that alerted her before she was picked up by the throat of a clawed hand. She stared with wide eyes as a pair of blazing human eyes within a skull of a wolf. He was large, his shoulders slumped in a way that made him able to stand on both two legs and run on four. His brown fur was erect, and his teeth were exposed.

"So this is the one the forest said, one of the Dalish to put us in our place," He snarled, and Ion felt her body go slack. She stared into his eyes and let hers bleed gold, she also barred her own teeth at him showing her dominance.

"Put me down, now!" She snarled at him, when he didn't comply she dug her own hands into his furred forearm. She saw surprise showing in his eyes, and since he talked it meant that he was not the mindless beast that Zathrian had told her of.

But there was a wild nature that she had to address also, he was not a mere humanoid, there was a rage that flowed into his eyes along with the surprise that showed as she barred her dominance at him.

She gathered her mana and made a bright light erupt from the clearing, it would show for several leagues around and would signal her companions that she was in danger and was in need of help. The werewolf roared as he was temporarily blinded by the flash and he let her go and she crashed into the lake.

Water engulfed her and she pushed to the bottom of the lake. She felt her own body flood with the heat of her change and arched as her human body exploded with such force bubbles formed upon the surface of the lake. She heard a great battle cry as she pushed off from the bottom of the lake to explode from the surface in a clash of wild fur and teeth.

She hit the brown werewolf and tackled him to the ground as he snarled in surprise. He was not expecting her to attack as she did, and she quickly had him pinned underneath her great form. He struggled to detach her and she dug her teeth into the scruff of his neck, hard enough to draw blood. She made him watch as Sten and Zevran quickly worked in a pair to either drive off the werewolves or kill the ones that fought for the brown one. It didn't take long, and when it was over neither had very many wounds that needed to be treated. They had gotten lucky and turned the element of surprise to their advantage.

"I believe that we now know who will wear the pants in the relationship that the Warden has, look at the way she dominated him…" Zevran commented as he wiped his daggers clean and sheathed them. Sten gave a grunt and looked at her.

"I do not understand why you have wasted you time to take this creature prisoner, Wolf."

"Grrr, I will not allow this to happen to me hrrr you will get hrrr no answers from me!" The wolf snarled at the companions. She dug her fangs deeper into his flesh and he yelped and struggled with more vigor. With her current angle she could break his neck, or crunch his spine between her teeth, but at that moment her soul goal was to create pain, and lots of it.

"I believe that answers it, she is trying to get this creatures side of the story… from what I remember now the leader of the Dalish did not mention that the beasts could speak… or form any coherent thought."

Sten grunted again. She suspected that the Qunari rarely took prisoners and if they did they would have them interrogated by others beside themselves. She closed her teeth tighter around his neck and the wolf howled in pain.

"Hrrr! You will pay for this hrrrr Witherfang's fury runs deep for my fallen comrades, hrrrr, kill me if you will but I will not give you anything hrrr!"

She snarled the best she could, as she had her mouth full already. The creature flailed more, but it was weaker than what it had done before, Ion could feel the blood slowly seeping through her mouth to dot the forest floor.

She was not trying to get a story out of the werewolf, she was trying to lure out the leader that was hiding in the bushes near where they were. She could smell the great wolf, hear it snarls every time its disciple cried out in pain, and she once caught a glimpse of a white wolf that was pacing behind the tree line. She clamped her jaws tighter seeing the reaction from the wolf behind the bushes as its pawn groaned and weakly thrashed under her.

She knew it was going to spring even before it completed the action. She released the brown werewolf and met it half way when it sprang. She aimed her bite at the hind leg, and tasted the copper blood spiced with magic as her fangs hit their mark. The wolf also managed to get a good chunk out of her, and when they broke apart she had a weeping wound on her shoulder and the smaller white male wolf had several different wounds staining his white fur.

He snarled, as he was the smaller version, and weaker because of the wounds that he suffered. She was not surprised that he was smaller than her, and that also gave her a good idea about what magic held them. As they crossed fangs again, she held nothing back and when they broke apart for a second time he was breathing heavily as she was just lightly panting. Her shoulder stung, and there were some scratches along her side, but he was worse for wear having far more wounds than she had.

She smelt magic in the air, and she held off her attack to see what the other wolf was up to. It snarled and a blinding light filled the clearing. Witherfang turned into… not something human but more of a spirit.

"My Lady… hrrr. No!" The brown wolf wailed.

The "Lady" was… green. No actual eyes, long black hair that was carefully placed over large breasts with vines that covered her arms and legs. She looked, not angry but sad.

"Please mortal, I have no wish to fight." She spoke, her voice carried some magic of its own, allowing all of the battle rage to be sucked out of Ion's soul. She sighed and laid down her hackles and closed her eyes.

"I thank you for not killing him in trying to lure me out, unfortunately I cannot let you kill me until you truly know what you are doing…" She said. Ion's eyes snapped open and she snarled at the Lady. She would not be tricked, it was a warning snarl saying that she would not be lied to.

"I know that you can sense truth, you aura is clean and justified, for the story that I tell you is truth, not lies Wolf-sister."

Ion sighed, and willed herself to shift back to her two legged form. What the Lady said was true. When she had completed the change, she stood completely dry to face the Lady, unlike her she still had the wound from Witherfang's bite. She told her body to heal it, and soon a soft burning was going through her shoulder as the healing magic worked. She turned toward where they had the werewolf and was sad to see that he had gone after Sten as soon as she had released him, and that he was now in many pieces around the wood floor.

"I will not allow my friends to be harmed, there are no more of your… creations around that will attack until we have chosen to do so." Ion asked, it didn't come out as a question, but the question was clearly there.

"I have told them to disperse until they are needed. Attempt to harm me though and I cannot guarantee your or your companions safety." She said, and Ion nodded, it was all true.

"Then come, we will have this conversation by the fire, for I wish to be warm and I believe my companions are also wishing that."


	4. Chapter 4

It only took a single look from Ion for both Sten and Zevran to behead the Lady of the Forest. At once the two forms quickly meshed together allowing Ion to plunge her fist into the spirit's chest and pull out the heart that would cure the elven hunters. Until the sun rose they spent their night hunting down extra strays in the forest to destroy the curse in all of its forms. When the sun rose they had completed their mission and Ion rode to the encampment to give Zathrian what he needed. She told him nothing, in face Ion hadn't said a word to any of her companions since she had given the order to kill the Lady.

Sten approved for her fast thinking, for her to kill the enemy when its guard was down, and Zevran was also pleased. What made both of them both realize that something was wrong was the lack of talking that was coming from the small human. Usually she wasn't very chatty, but she would give them some things to ponder and would point out plants and other thing on the road when she chose to ride.

She had not ridden when they left Redcliff but had rode the last few hours to the Camp when they met the elves, but on the way back she had turned into her wolf and was quite moody and almost unfriendly to them, and had chosen to walk or run several paces ahead, instead of racing them like she would usually do. When they made camp, she would hunt and then retire to her tent before they had a chance to force food upon her. She looked whiter than usual when she would emerge the next morning, and had dark circles under her eyes.

This happened for several days, and when they were just north of Lake Calenhad Sten pulled her aside when she was going to make her morning change into a wolf.

"Wolf, I would like to share a tale with you. Would you ride with me upon the horse?" He asked, Ion just nodded at him and he helped her climb the massive back stallion.

Sten nodded and shared a look with the assassin that Ion didn't miss, but she saw the Zevran was riding further up ahead, out of earshot. She found this suspicious but kept her own comments to herself.

"The Elf has told me that you were thinking of converting to the ways of my people, to submitting yourself to the mercy of the Qun and to the role of Saarebas." He rumbled. Ion nodded, but didn't say anything. She felt a spike of irritation that Zevran had shared this with Sten, but then again she wasn't going to have kept it from Sten very much longer.

"Yeah, I am going to convert when I am of no more use to the people here." She said, speaking for the first time in a few days. Sten didn't even bat an eye at her bluntness.

"Would you like for me to tell you of the Qunari, or of our homeland so that there are no surprises waiting for you?" He asked her.

She looked up suspiciously at the Qunari. He had seldom talked about his homeland, or even about the Qunari. She was waiting for the price, like "you can know this, but you would have to have your tongue cut out right away so that you cannot share this with any other person." Sten waited patiently for her to choose what she wanted to do, and when she nodded he started to speak of his homeland.

It was a series of islands, all great jungles filled with recourses and villages. It was a hotter climate than Ferelden and Sten told her about how they had no nonsense, that whatever roll you were assigned was what you were good at. How converts had trouble with adapting, but in Par Vollen they found many different roles that would help them adjust to the way of Qunari life. He told her that his home smelled of special blossoms that would die under the harsh cold of Ferelden, and the smell of the sea salt in the air. How in military there was a chance of rank advancement, but one would never take one to much of a task before one was ready. How everything seemed to just belong, and how even mages or Saarebas were factored into the Qun.

He told her of the festivals that they had in the form of honor. He told her also of the mating festivals. How the best warriors would be paired with the more suitable woman for the better offspring. How they did not mate for love, how they mated for children. He also spoke about how you expressed affection to your unit, but not in the same way that Ferelden "bas" seemed to do at every opportunity.

By the time they had camped, Ion seemed to act just like her old self. Her smile was back, and some of the dark aura that surrounded her had dissipated. When they were set up for camp she took first watch and Zevran walked to his tent almost immediately.

Ion had been dying to ask Sten a question. She had actually been dreading the response to asking him this question. She knew a small amount of Qunari ways, but she wanted to ask him anyway. So when she gave Zevran _the look_ he had quickly found somewhere else to be, and that was his tent. So she bravely walked across the camp and confronted Sten.

"I noticed that you seem to direct more and more glares at your sword and less at me. Why do you hate the weapon so much?" Ion asked as she sat down next to Sten. He looked away from her, he was ashamed to admit something.

She could sense a sad aura coming form him, a sort of despair and hopelessness.

"I have lost something of great importance to me. I fear that I may never regain it again." He said. She struggled to think of what he could've lost in such a time.

"What was it?" Ion asked him, hoping that she wasn't prying too much.

"It is a long story, Wolf."

"I have first watch, Sten." She reminded him.

"It is hard to admit to, painful that I, a Sten, had sunk that low…" He said, his voice gruff. Ion did not move to touch him, knowing that from earlier that Qunari did not touch much.

"Just start at the beginning, its easier." Ion said softly as she scooted closer to him so that she could hear his now soft gruff voice. She knew from experience that something like this was hard to admit. She had confessed to the killing of her supposed best friend and his lover, that had not been easy especially since Alistair had shot the sad little boy eyes at her and she felt guilty afterward.

"I have a mission, to answer a question. I must return to my brethren with the answer to the question "what is the Blight?" but I have yet to find the answer. I know also, that when I return and after I give my report I will have forfeited my life." He said, Ion felt her hear beat faster.

"Why are you sentenced to die?" She found herself asking him.

"For I have lost my soul. A soulless Qunari is no better than the Grey Ones, Tal Vashoth."

"Where did you lose you soul?" She asked him, thinking that the soul was something spiritual and that with enough prayer they could get it back for Sten. She was wrong.

"When I came here, I was with two others. They were my… companions, my Kadan. That night we were ambushed by darkspawn, and I dropped my soul on the battlefield."

Ion felt confused by that statement. He dropped his soul… then she understood.

"Your sword… was your soul?" She asked or hoped. If it was something solid, that would be easier.

"Yes. When I woke and it was not within my grasp, I panicked and though that the humans that had taken me in had hidden it from me. I killed them all, but succumbed to rage." He said, his eyes lowered, and his head bowed in shame.

"It does happen, Sten." Ion said softly. He glared up at her, and she felt a sudden rage fill his posture.

"It cannot happen to a Sten! We have too much training to lose control like that! I have failed in more than one way with my people!" He snarled at her. He looked away from her, and Ion did not feel any fear toward his outburst. She in fact felt her eyes go golden and she forcefully took Sten's head in her hands and turned it so that he would look at her.

"Trust me Sten when I say that it does happen! Now, tell me where you fought the darkspawn so that you can start to redeem yourself." She snarled at him. He looked surprised, but his face soon turned into its normal calm expressionless face.

"Here, near this lake."

"Good, now I want you to do me a favor…" She replied to him.


	5. Chapter 5

She watched her companions go on the road to Redcliff. They would reach it with a week to spare before Alistair and the others returned. She had a week to find a lost Qunari sword and return the soul to its owner. She could do this, she had done worse before. She shuttered when she remembered her Harrowing, or when she had to go back to Ostagar with Morrigan just to get the treaties out of a cold dead corpse's fist.

Sten did not want her to do this, but she had not backed down, and told him that after five days she would begin her return journey to Redcliff and would not be late. They had left her a bag of provisions and an extra set of robes in case she was to run into trouble and had to change. She refused her staff, knowing that she could carry a sword (if she found it) and her pack at the same time.

Sten had given her enough information, and her sense of smell could help her with the rest. So as soon as they were out of her vision she went behind a bush to change forms and was on her way.

She found the poor homeless man searching bodies of decaying darkspawn and the pieces of the Qunari warriors. She asked him about the swords, and he had answered her with suspicion, and soon he became afraid when he lied to her and her eyes bled gold. After that he pointed her in the direction of the mountains.

Hunting on the way she made it to the mountains in three days, but she had gone slow and had studied the paths for when their whole party had to make this trip through the mountains. She changed into her human form and slung her backpack over her shoulder and hiked the rest of the way up the mountain when she was just a small way from the entrance of Orzammar. When she reached the outside market she continued to look until she found what she was looking for.

A man with beady eyes and red hair was selling what looked like giant swords. She looked interested and he quickly told her what he was supposed to. He had took a Qunari sword from the fallen, but had hawked it off to a dwarf in Redcliff. Another goose egg to find and locate, so she looked at his inventory and found two Qunari swords already there. If the soul rests in the weapon, then these two held the swords of Sten's fallen comrades. She quickly paid for those and dragged them away from the market to the trees.

She managed to tie them together with clothe and with some of the straps from her pack before she could carry them in her wolf form. While she was doing that she didn't realize that she had been surrounded and when they attacked they got several good hits on her before she could dispatch them. She had been wounded, and the snow around her had been dyed red.

So with her prize in mouth, she made her way down the mountain, stopping several times to heal herself and to allow herself to rest. She made it down the mountains and into the territory of Redcliff in two days. By the time she got to the castle she was exhausted.

When she got through the castle courtyard word had spread of her arrival, but she only dropped her burden at Sten's feet and had raced back into Redcliff to complete her task. She knew how she was going to do it too.

Pounding on the door was a very good way to attract attention. Several people gave her a weird look, but she ignored them and continued to knock on Dwyn's door. Soon he answered, and gave her a glare before letting her in. She walked in and could immediately smell something that smelled faintly of Sten. She had completed her goose chase.

"What do you want?" He snarled at her, and she quickly faded out of her scent state and looked at the dwarf in the eye. Time to put on her Qunari face.

"I understand that you have acquired a Qunari sword from a man that was selling them in the high mountains." She said, watching his face and smelling to see if he would lie.

"Yeah I do, what of it?" He said, not to friendly to her.

"Well I happen to know who it belongs to… and he wants it back."

"Funny, he didn't mention that the giant he took it from was alive." Dwyn said. Ion smiled.

"He was, and trust me they don't take kindly to having something stolen from them… if I were to tell him what really happened, you would be in pieces before you could explain that you didn't even know what it was for…" Ion let the threat hang and Dwyn sighed.

"It's in the chest by the door, take it and go."

Ion gloated in her victory and quickly walked over to the chest and opened it. She grabbed the sword that seemed to sing to her. She skipped to that song all the way up to the castle to where her friends were waiting for her. Sten was not with them, but Morrigan and Zevran were waiting for her, sure Alistair and Leliana greeted her warmly, but they were not the ones that she wished to see.

Zevran gave her a quick hug, and was careful of the sword. Morrigan gave her a warm filled look that was like giving a hug to one that you missed.

"How was the tower, not too much like a cadge I hope…" Ion asked her, but stopped and felt her heart sink when she saw Morrigan's face drop into one of sadness, but then it was gone before she could fully see it.

"We have a new addition, and she wanted to see you as soon as possible."

"Who in their right mind would want to go on a suicidal mission that would involve certain death? I know of no one that would want to do that…" Ion said, puzzled until a familiar voice spoke up, and it wasn't happy to see her, in fact it was scolding her.

"Iona Tyler Amell!" The older voice said, and Ion felt her blood drain from her face as she looked up at the Senior Enchanter, Wynne. Her face seemed a little older, her eyes a littler sterner, but it was her scent that made Ion's eyes bleed gold and for her wolf to rise up. Wynne smelled of a spirit.

"Iona?" everyone seemed to be whispering to themselves, mainly because Ion had never really told them that Ion was just a shortening of "Iona".

"Wynne!" Ion smiled as she went to greet her former mentor.

"Am I to understand that you are going to…?" Wynne didn't have a chance to complete her sentence because at that moment Sten came out of the main hall. They locked eyes, and Ion forgot all about Wynne.

She walked around the elder mage while she was still scolding her, and ignored her when she called for Ion to come back. She walked until she was a few steps short of him, and knelt to the ground presenting him the sword with outstretched hands.

He looked at her with wide eyes.

"Sten of the Beresaad, Vanguard of the Qunari. I come bringing you back both your fighting companion and your honor. I hope that with this you can give your Arishok a better answer than if you just had your sword." She said, her voice was cool, but strong.

"Asala…" He said, his voice soft with awe.

"I hope that the other swords were not too damaged from when I got them up from the mountains…" Ion broke off, not sure what to say. Sten smiled at her, actually smiled. A rare thing for the Qunari to do.

"Are you sure that you are not already of the Qun, for Ashkaari would have trouble finding a single lost blade in a country at war… I thank you," He said. Ion felt a slow grin come across her face, along with the swelling of joy in her breast.

"I am glad that you have been reunited, I had hoped that she was the right one."

"It… almost seems strange to hold, but there is no mistaking it, this is Asala, my soul."

"Then tomorrow before sunrise I wish for you to test her against the speed of the Wolf, for I am eager to see you at your best, Sten."

"I would be honored, Kadan. But I wish to hear your tale as to how you managed to find Asala."

"It is a long tale, Sten. Perhaps after dinner?" She offered, a little hungry and eager to get inside so that she could escape Wynne and get to the fireplace that was calling her name.

"Of course, lead on Kadan." He said, and Ion smiled. When they had gone into the main hall that had the roaring fire she felt it calling to her.

Sten turned to the stairs that would lead to one of the armories. Ion felt herself stretch before a question popped into her head and it formed onto her lips before she could stop it.

"What does Kadan mean?"

Sten smiled at her, but kept on walking away toward the armory. She had half a mind to follow him, but stopped herself. He would tell her, in time.


	6. Chapter 6

As it turned out five or so days of constant travel were very bad for you, and when she turned into her wolf form to settle down by the fire, she slept. Continuously for several days. At first they were afraid that she had lapsed into some sort of coma, but after Morrigan went to wake her up and she snarled at her they realized that Ion was very, very tired. On the third day, she felt something snuggled down against her belly.

Ion cracked her eyes, thinking that it was Morrigan because of the tingle of magic that she felt in her nose, but she was wrong when a young boy looked back at her. She rolled her golden eyes and went back to her sleep, and he went back to petting and snuggling in her fur.

"Well, well, t'would seem that you have found a friend." Morrigan observed the next day when she had stopped her sleeping habits and was just relaxing after her long training bout with Sten. Two hours later and she still had pains in her side and her tongue refused to stop rolling out of her mouth.

"I don't know what you mean… are you speaking of Conner, or maybe yourself?" She asked, and Morrigan rolled her eyes.

"You know what I speak of, the Qunari has been watching you for more than an hour without the promise of stopping. You seem to have made an impression."

Ion looked up to see Sten was indeed watching her, but it was more of a guarded gaze than his usual scowl when he would find her relaxing in her wolf form. Then she looked down, and realized that she was indeed in her wolf form.

"Morrigan, you can understand me?" she asked, confused.

She had just talked in her other form, a feat that she had thought to be impossible until this very moment. Morrigan looked even more confused than her, having just realized this herself. A slow steady grin formed at the witch's lips.

"T'would seem that you have now mastered the powers of speech in that form. Now will we ever see you in your human form now that you have?"

"Oh, don't worry, I will start to wear this form a lot now, but I will also grace you guys with me human form every once in a while."

Ion noticed that the witch had a new addition to her hand. In fact, every time she had seen the witch, her pale hand had been glued to the black leather bound tome. Ion had yet to actually ask her about it, but she assumed that Morrigan would tell her in due time.

Then Leliana came into the room, and with a grin and a sweep of her light skirts that she had donned she skipped over to them. Ion sighed with irritation, and Morrigan snorted and opened her book. Leliana seemed oblivious to the dark aura that surrounded the two, but skipped over to them anyway. But imagine their surprise when she just skipped over to Sten instead. He looked at her with a hooded gaze, and his upper lip twisted into a snarl of unhappiness of seeing the Bard right in front of him.

Ion had her ears pointed to them and strained to hear their conversation.

"We saw you, you know…" She whispered in his ear. Sten sifted, but kept his face blank.

"I have no idea of what you speak…" he said, and Ion smelled a lie. Ion felt a dog grin on her face, and whispered to Morrigan what Leliana was saying.

"You cannot hide it from me, you big softy!" Leliana whispered mischievously. Ion couldn't help but to think of what they were referring to.

"Again, I have no idea of what you speak of…" Sten said.

"Who are the flowers for Sten? Shale was wondering, and Alistair had a bet that they were for a certain, friend."

"They were for no one but myself, for I was picking them for medicinal purposes…" He said.

"Oh, are you hurt? If you are you should have Iona (Ion who had heard her name snarled when used) or Wynne take a look at it. We don't want it getting infected now would we?" She asked sweetly with a wicked look on her face.

Sten had enough, ending the conversation by getting up and carrying Asala out of the main hall to the stairs of the armory.

"Who is Shale?" Ion asked when Leliana skipped after Sten trying to get him to crack and tell her what he was picking flowers for. Ion knew that he had not picked them for medicinal purposes, but did not wish to know what he was up to because it was none of her business and also didn't really care. If the giant wanted to pick flowers in the woods, let him pick flowers in the woods.

"Tis a new addition to our little group. I think you may like… it." Morrigan said.

"It?" Ion questioned as she felt Morrigan move so she could get up. After she stretched she followed Morrigan out to the courtyard, curious as to what "it" was. Then a piercing shriek assaulted her ears and she made a mad dash to where the scream had come from.

She knew who it had come from, the Arlessa had quite a good pair of lungs, and when she got out to the courtyard she smelt the blood of animals that hit her nose. Blood splotches and splatter coated the yard, feathers and lumps of flesh was strewn all around. Ion looked with her sharp eyes, but could not find what had done this, or who was responsible for this gory mess.

Then it moved, and the scent of raw lyrium hit the air as Ion watched in awe as the statue moved as it were alive. The Arlessa sunk to the ground in a dead faint and the statue looked up and narrowed its eyes at its audience. Other guards and some others had come outside to see what the commotion was about, and several went to check on the Arlessa.

"Ion, this is Shale. Shale, this is the mage Ion." Morrigan said, and Shale's eyes narrowed at her even further, and Ion could sense the pure hate that was radiating off of the giant.

"Morrigan…" Ion said warily as she felt a growl rise in her chest as the statue started to take menacing steps toward her.

"So it is a mage? I will crust its head if it intends to chain me like it wants!" It yelled, and Ion bunched her legs and jumped in front of the crowd that had started to gather, so that they would be in the fray of the fighting.

Ion snarled as it charged now knowing that there would be fight. Ion jumped over its charging body hoping that it would have too much momentum to stop, but she wasn't expecting a stone fist to crunch into her shoulder effectively marring it. She yelped and crashed into the ground. It hurt to get her paws back from under her, but she did so with ease and quickly dodged another slash at her that hit the courtyard's stone and shattered it. She snarled as Shale managed to get another hit onto her, and she felt rage well up into her chest.

Her vision turned red and she launched herself at the stone that was living with a roar that made several of the spectators have their blood turn to ice with fear. She landed on the stone's back and started to bite. She found its weak spot, and it was the lyrium veins that decorated its body, they were soft. So she started to rip and shred them, and she ignored the bleeding of her gums and teeth, all she wanted to do was to make this creature feel the pain that she was in right at that moment. It worked, and Shale started to beat her with more vigor, trying to dislodge the wolf that was on its back.

"Shale! Ion! Stop this!"

Alistair's voice filled the courtyard that was silent except for the roars of the creatures that were fighting in it. Neither of the creatures actually looked up or even acknowledged that he was talking to them or ordering them to stand down. Ion managed to get a good grip on a large vein in Shale's shoulder and she ripped a good chunk out of the stone, making Shale even more enraged than it was before.

There was a scent of magic in the air, before Ion leapt from Shale to avoid the paralyzing spell that was cast upon the area. Morrigan stood there with both her hands raised, but a smug look on her face. Ion felt her legs trembling as she whined trying to stay on her feet, but her shoulder was in too much pain and she ended up curling up her front leg to her chest so that she could still stand. Her breathing was labored and she could feel several fractured ribs. Blood dripped from her chipped fangs, and that slowly dripped to the ground.

"What the hell were you thinking Morrigan! You know that Shale will attack any mage that she sees! God, how could you be so Maker damned stupid?" Alistair snarled at her, and the witch shrugged.

"Tis better that Shale knows this early, least a fight break out while we are in battle." She said, and walked down the stairs to check on Ion who snarled at her approach.

"Don't come any closer right now, I can heal myself check on Shale." She snarled, and began to command her body to heal itself. It didn't take very long, but it cost her quite a bit of mana to be able to perform the proper spells. Morrigan looked Shale over, and deemed that it or she was fine, and released the spell that held her. Shale looked at her then shrugged and went back to whatever it was doing before.

Ion slowly walked back across the courtyard, limping lightly knowing that the spell would take a small amount of time to actually heal her shoulder she would be fine in the morning. Morrigan fell a step beside her, and she felt no ill tension between them.

"Next time, warn me when I am about to battle a giant stone… humanoid. Then maybe I'll be a little less pissed off afterwards." She said, and Morrigan laughed as they walked back to the grand hall with the fire and Ion laid back down.

"But you wished to meet Shale, I only provided the means to do so. Now you know what its weakness is if it indeed wished to cause any of us harm."

"True. Just, don't do that again."

She closed her eyes, only to open them in annoyance when Leliana crashed down the stairs and hurriedly ran to her to kneel down and examine her mending wolf body. Leliana glared at Morrigan and Ion sighed knowing that a spat was the last thing that she needed right now.

"Why did you let this happen? You could've stopped this fight if you would've kept your mouth shut! Or when you could not do that you could've cast the spell sooner!" Leliana cried at Morrigan as she lifted up Ion's lips to examine her teeth that were now just healing and becoming less chipped and loose. The bleeding had long since stopped a short time ago.

"And you failed to notice that they would need to fight to get past this inconvenience! Tis not my fault that one such as you does not understand that we mages are not well recognized in this world. Now the stupid stone statue knows now to mess with our Warden."

"Enough! Both of you! I am fine, I have healed, and I would very much like it if you would both shut the hell up so that I could heal in peace. Leliana, if you were even remotely in such an outrage with us then you would've been shooting out of the armory window when you watched the fight…" Ion snarled, and Leliana scoffed.

"And Morrigan has her own reasons for not interfering, such as your beloved prince telling her not to interfere until it got to far. So both of you go duke it out somewhere else because there is no blame to be placed here!" Ion continued, and then as if to prove her point, got up with a huff and limped up the stairs to her room.

One of her servant friends saw her coming, and quickly opened up Ion's door for her, and shut her inside. Ion huffed and let her legs collapse under her. She began to rearrange her shape, drawing in the fire that would make her change back into her more human form.

No sooner had she done this did she realize that she had almost no strength left and quickly tried to climb somewhere in her room so that she wouldn't be sprawled in the doorway. No such luck, as the Fade quickly came crashing down and she surrendered to it.

Once she closed her eyes, a figure came out of the shadows, dressed in armor that had a flaming sword on it, he gave a grin before walking to the door and letting in several others. They all surrounded Ion and quickly took her and disappeared into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

She did not wake up on the floor of her room like she was supposed to. She opened her eyes to stare dumbly at the bars of a cage, but not just any cage. Her blood ran cold when she realized that this was the cage that they kept her in as a child, and at once thought that she was dreaming, but she quickly found that she was not dreaming, but wide awake. Ion moved around, and found that a thick chain with a collar held her to a wall, and with a closer inspection she found that there were bars on the inside of the collar, preventing her from changing, along with runes along the ridges so that she could not perform any magic. She was officially fucked.

Noises filled her ears once she could concentrate enough to focus her senses. She could smell blood in the air, hear the cries of those that were having their spirits broken, and she could feel the cold air of the cell along her naked skin. Her hair provided a small amount of warmth, but it was only a matter of time before they came for her to break her like the others that were in this place.

Wherever this place was, she had made many enemies in the land, and she knew many of them must have a dungeon to throw people into and to torture them to no end. But only one would have the recourses that would be able to get her cage from the Templars at the circle tower. Loghain.

As she thought his name, the sound of approaching footsteps came to her ears, and soon she was looking at the silver armored bastard himself, along with his rat faced assistant. She had heard that Arl Howe had been a sniveling bastard, but now she could see it for herself.

Upon seeing both of them, she snarled making her eyes bleed gold and she lunged at them, forgetting her collar and was jerked back. Warmth spilled lightly down her exposed chest and she felt the light sting of open skin from where the pointed bars had cut into her skin. She glared at them with her teeth exposed, knowing that they were looking down at her.

"Tell me Warden, how do you like my hospitality?" The Arl asked her, and Ion snarled at him again.

"What a wild one, what do you want me to do with her, My Lord?" He asked Loghain who smirked at her.

"Break her."

It took four men to get her into this room. Suspended by her arms, collar chain tangled in the shackles that held her arms to her sides and up in the air. Her feet dangled uselessly to the ground, and already were turning blue because of the cold in the room. Men stood around her, and the Arl was in front of her blazing yellow gaze.

"Begin."

There was a crack of a whip before it kissed her skin. She made no sound, and right after that the burning of the healing of the wolf quickly took care of the wound.

"Sir? She healed it."

The Arl cursed and looked at her back, and to his credit, she had not used magic. He grasped her chin and wrenched her head up so that her golden eyes were looking at him. She felt herself jerk as the whip kissed her skin again, and again. Her wolf rose up to heal it, but with each one she could feel herself growing weaker. She felt her head being dropped by the Arl, as he watched her back healing itself, but even he could notice that it was becoming slower and slower.

"Keep it up, there must be a breaking point until she cannot heal anymore." He snarled.

More men were brought into the room, and soon she could feel five separate whips that were kissing her skin at different angles. They must have done it for several hours, and by the time that the Arl called them off, she had still not breathed a word, but she was weak and the last of the whip marks had yet to heal.

The Arl walked carefully up to her and raised her lowered head with the handle of the whip. Through the pain the she felt, she glared at him. He had not come any closer to breaking her, for she had spirit. His lip twisted in a hatred look passed his face, and he struck her with the handle of the whip, then started to strike her with the skinny device. When he struck her across the cheek he smiled in triumph when he saw that it had not healed.

"Now the fun will begin, little Warden. Know this, your friends will not be saving you, and soon you will know nothing but what I do to you. You will be broken, and nothing can save you.

"If your going to break me, then break me don't stand there talking about it." Ion snarled at him, and he smiled at her spirit.

"I intend to, little wolf."


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning, rape!**

They had scaled the walls, ran through the estate, rescued one Warden and now had to get the Queen out. So the party went to the dungeons where they fought room after room of guards. There weren't many that had come in their little group, but it included Alistair, Sten, Oghren, and Wynne (who had replaced their other Warden in the healing portion.) as they looked for the mage reasonable for the Queen's imprisonment.

It was when they got to the final room filled with guards and two mages did they find the one that they had been missing for so long. It had been at least a month since Ion's disappearance and since then they had almost given up with finding her alive, as they had found that she had been taken by force from their estate. She was in the room, chained and suspended by multiple shackles. Her body was pale, and pasty. Blood covered every inch of her body, whatever body she had left. Her bones stuck out, the whole party could count her rips, along with every ridge of her spin. She was thin, sunken, and when they looked into her dead eyes, they found that she had been tortured to the point of not having her spirit anymore, for she had no emotion whatsoever in her demeanor. She was a broken shell of the warden that they all knew.

She flinched at them when they touched her, breaking her chains and freeing her. When she was free she quickly moved away from them, wide eyed as she stared at their armor. Their prisoner, Howe laughed at them as they attempted to calm their fellow friend and warden. They had given up, and went to interrogate him while she had huddled up in a corner.

Sten walked over to her, as the others went to the Arl. She gripped the sides of the wall as if clutching them for dear life, as her eyes wildly looked around the room. They were filled with fear. She shrank against the wall as he approached her with his hand out, as if to assure her that he meant no harm.

_The gloved hand reaching back to slap her face as she snarled at him. Two other hands clutched her throat as evil smiles spread across their lips. One trailed a hand up her thigh… two others groped her chest. They laughed as she struggled weakly, but malnourishment had stopped her from being able to fully attack them. _

_Her cries of anguish replaced her snarls, and the groans of the guards could be heard as they satisfied themselves with her. The Arl listened the whole time for he had said there was more than one way to break a woman._

She let her head fall to her chest as she allowed him to touch her, her eyes squeezed shut as she trembled.

"Kadan…" he whispered at her.

She felt something inside her recognize that word, but it was lost as she stared at the guard armor. This was not her savor, this was not her friend. This was a dream that she had foolishly gone into, a dream that had unlocked doors and broken chains.

She went limp as he pulled her into his arms, sweeping her off of her feet. She knew that she would be punished greater if she struggled or tried to fight. But he carried her out of the room, and not to the machine that they would strap her into usually when performing the act. He leaned against the wall and removed his helm. A face that she both recognized and did not recognize greeted her.

"Kadan…" His deep voice penetrated the barrier inside of her mind, and she found his name, but dared not to say it in case she was wrong. She began to tremble again, and he held her tighter as thoughts of flight came to her mind.

"What is your dream, Kadan?" He asked her, as he held her.

Her dreams? What dreams? She did not know of her dreams, for she had never had any. Maybe a long time ago she had dreamt of a place with no cadges, but not now. It came to her, she had dreamt of…

"Freedom. A purpose." She whispered, her voice ragged and horse.

"Good." He said, and she began to shake more violently as he pressed her closer to him. She curled herself against this giant as her memories from before began to break through the haze that she felt.

Sten. This was Sten. She repeated this to herself as the others came from the room, and they moved up through the dungeon. When the light pierced her eyes from the dimly lit Arl's room she flinched and hid away from it. Sten wrapped a blanket around her, and pieces of the cotton stuck to her bloodied skin, and to sticky wounds, and he covered her face until she felt her own body fade away to sleep.

Sleep brought back everything. Her mission as a Grey Warden, her friends, her leader through this Blight, the spirit that had been starved reared up with life, healing her body the best it could before retreating back into darkness. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a room. A room similar to the ones at Redcliff, but this one had different designs.

She rose with stiff limbs, feeling how sickly her body had become Ion only ignored all of the weak protests her limbs gave her as she stood up, and almost fell before being able to cloth herself in leggings and a large dress. She realized with a twist of her gut that this dress had fit her perfectly before she had been captured, but now it hung in folds around her skeleton figure. She didn't put on shoes.

She made it to the door with no major troubles, and with her head bowed and her hair around her face she made her way slowly shuffling down the hall. She used the wall as support, and would stumble and fall as she blindly made her way around the estate.

She used the wall as a sort of shoulder to lean on as she made her way to where she could smell food. Coincidently this was also where she could smell Sten's scent too. Ion gritted her teeth when her body gave out upon her over and over, and when she finally made it to the dinning hall, she was panting and she had called upon her wolf to give her strength in her two legged form.

When she entered several people stopped talking at once, and she felt several pairs of eyes upon her. A scrape of a chair later and she was glaring at the soft brown eyes of Alistair. She looked around and found the room was filled with people of importance. The food that she had smelled had been their snack, and this was not the dinning room.

She straightened up, and snarled at Alistair when he had attempted to steady her by putting his hands near her shoulders. He quickly removed his hands but tried to steady her by keeping close to her in case she needed a shoulder to lean upon.

"Alistair, there was to be no interruptions, if I was not allowed my hand maiden then this… servant as she seems to be should not be allowed either." A shrill strict voice said tensely. The room had enough tension to be cut with a knife.

"Your highness, I believe you've made a mistake…" Arl Eamon began as Ion growled and raised her head so that the Queen could see her eyes turn different colors.

"My name is Ion Amell, your majesty, I am the other Grey Warden, and my apologies that I interrupted your meeting, so excuse me." She said, her voice floated through gritted barred teeth. She gave a shaky bow before she turned to exit the room, but her legs failed her and she crumbled to the ground and would've hit unless Alistair hadn't caught her.

"I got you," he whispered in her ear, as he firmly grasped her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. She let out a pant, and tried to steady herself.

"Thank you," She hissed back at him as he had his hands stayed on her shoulders in case she fell again.

Eamon cleared his throat pointedly. God he was an asshole sometimes.

"Eamon, can we you know, get a break while I help her." He said, pleading in his voice.

"Wait just a moment, we are not through here! The child king is uncomfortable with the conversation and the other Warden just magically comes to his rescue, am I the only one to find this is as coincidental?" The Queen shrieked. Ion rolled her eyes, and noticed that Leliana was standing just outside of the door.

She looked like a wreck. Leliana's eyes were red rimmed and it had looked like she had been crying. Her hair was a mess, and she didn't wear the skirts and dresses like she used to, her leather armor clothed her. Behind her Zevran quickly came to his senses and dashed to her side.

"And WHAT is she doing here Eamon? I bet the little tramp was listening to our discussion! I want her out! Do you hear me Eamon, there will be no negotiations until she is out!"

Ion felt her eyes roll in the back of her head, and she saw only the blackness of her head.

_He came back when they were through. After several times of them doing this to her, she still hadn't broke yet. In his hands was a blunt object, and he swung it and as it hit she saw stars. She screamed as he beat her while calling her all sorts of names. He gently caressed her face the next moment, and then was back to beating her until she was barely holding onto the light. When it stopped, or when he stopped he smiled at her._

_ He made her look up at him in the eyes, as he unbuttoned his pants, and made her look at him continuously as he preformed the act upon her, and as he closed his eyes in ecstasy she felt her whole soul break. He pulled back on his pants and released her from his grasp and she hung there like a broken doll. She stared at the walls but saw nothing, she saw him hitting her but felt nothing, she had been broken… they had taken everything she was, and she had known it._

Something cold was being poured down her throat. She coughed weakly, and tried to move but her arms were pinned to her sides. She felt more of the liquid being poured down her throat, but this time it had a bitter taste to it. She thrashed, and found herself in warm arms, coaxing her until she had swallowed more of the liquid.

She felt her eyes flutter weakly, and found herself looking into Sten's cool gaze. Morrigan was pouring something out of a bowl and she swallowed more of it when it flooded her body with strength.

She soon finished that, and when another bowl was presented she quickly drank that one too. By the fifth bowl she felt refreshed and she was no longer shaking. Sten gently laid her down to the bed that she was on, and propped her up using the pillows.

"Morrigan, her eyes are still glowing yellow…" Leliana's voice filled her ears, and Morrigan snorted at the red head.

"Oh no! well she did just have an episode that ended in her almost dying of starvation… right now her wolf is protecting her or offering her protection until she feels less vernal." The witch snarled at the red head.

She felt warmth engulf one of her hands, and she looked at Zevran who held her hand in a form of comfort. She looked to her right and saw that Sten was leaning against the far wall with Asala on his back.

"How long was… I gone?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Ohhh, are we going to tell stories, if so _Bonita_ I will pull up a chair!" Zevran said gleefully as he pulled a desk out and sat on it. The others found places to sit, but it did not escape them that Ion hadn't even tried to react to what Zevran said. Usually she would have a smart comment, but there was no humor in her eyes.

"Well, we all decided… after you were taken to continue to get the remaining treaties—" Leliana began, but Iona interrupted her.

"Let me guess, Eamon told you that he would look for me while you did that, not to worry because he would have his best knights looking for me." She said with bitterness in her voice. Leliana hesitantly nodded, and continued.

"So we came to the Dwarven City, and we had to help them. It involved us fighting in a royal proving, which I think that you would've liked a lot Ion, anyway we won that to try to support one of the two candidates for King because the king had passed away several weeks ago, and we wanted to support Harrowmont. But in doing that we had to fight for him, and we had to clear away several different things. It ended with us going into the deep roads, and finding what they called a paragon and we had to destroy the anvil that the ancient dwarfs had used to make golems. After that we made Harrowmont King and came back to the Redcliff Estate. Eamon sill hadn't located you, and the Landsmeet drew nearer so we came here, to Denerim. We had a message from the Queen and she had been held hostage in Howe's estate, and so we came there to free her, but we had to go through dungeons and that's when we found you… you know what happened after that…" She trailed off.

"The Queen was rescued and you were out for a few days and in that time she has already had several of the other Arls wrapped around her finger. She has also agreed to an arranged marriage with that foolish boy." Morrigan said, watching Leliana carefully as she flinched and blinked several times as to dislodge tears.

"Morrigan, that was rather rude." Zevran said, as Leliana excused herself and walked out of the room.

Morrigan just rolled her eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

A few hours later, there was a nock at the door and Wynne walked into the room. Ion felt her heart sink at the stern woman's gaze.

"I believe that it is time for you all to be in bed, Iona has to take her sleeping potion so that she can regain her strength." Wynne said, and Ion felt her wolf rise up as she smelled the lie. It wasn't like the elder to lie to people, and she nodded to Morrigan and Zevran when they left the room.

Wynne looked at Sten and gave him a stern gaze which he returned with crossed arms.

"I believe that this is goodnight, say goodnight Qunari so that she can rest in peace." Wynne said, and Sten refused to back down.

"No." He said, and confirmed that he had already known that the elder mage had lied.

"Its fine, Wynne." Ion said, as the elder was about to scold him and kick him out of the room.

"Are you sure, little one?" She asked softly, and Ion nodded.

"Yeah, he'll be told sooner or later. And I think that common sense tells everyone that I wasn't just beaten and tortured when in that dungeon." Ion said, a faint harsh smile came upon her face.

"Oh child, I am so sorry." Wynne said softly, as she came to the bed and placed the vial on the bedside table to give Ion a hug. Ion didn't miss how Sten tensed beside her.

"Do you wish to talk about it?" The elder mage asked, eyeing Sten. Ion looked at him too, and he shifted again not liking to be the center of attention.

"Sten, would you like to listen to this, or would you care to leave?" She asked him, and he stared at her.

"I will stay, Kadan." He replied, and she nodded, having a feeling that he would stay.

She began her story, telling about the templar and how she woke up in her cage. She continued to how they had first whipped her until she stopped healing, and then they really had fun with her now that she felt pain. It wasn't until she got to the part about the men and the rape did she begin to break down. She wavered, but finished her story after a quick hug from Wynne.

"I know what is in the vial, and I thank you Wynne." She said, as she swallowed the bitter liquid. Wynne smiled a sad smile.

"Child, I know that this is personal, but was that your… first encounter with a man? I know that at the tower you were alone except when Anders was still present, and I know for a fact that you did not go further than a friendship with him, in fact with any man that approached you, you have just given friendship… was there anyone that was special enough to get into your more… intimate structure?" She said, and Ion was silent for a moment.

"No. I was untouched." She admitted, and Wynne's face twisted into sadness.

"Child, I wish that you had a more… gentle first time, but…" Wynne trailed off, and Ion just smiled sadly at her.

"Its fine, Wynne. If you don't mind, I would like some time to myself…" She said, and Wynne respected her wishes.

When Wynne left, Ion turned her attention to Sten. He had been silent the whole time she had told her story, but she could feel the murderous rage that was boiling toward the surface. He was silently stewing, and his fury made her flinch. She stayed silent, as she stared at her hands that were resting on her lap that was under the covers.

"…Sten?" She asked, and yelped when she was pulled into a crushing hug.

She had managed to keep it all in, but when he hugged her she felt the dam break and tears spilled out of her eyes. She threw her arms around him as they embraced and wailed into his chest, tears spilling freely as she sobbed. She inhaled and smelled his scent, it helped calm her down, but still she was sobbing.

"Kadan." He whispered into her ear, as he held her and she clung to him.

She fisted his tunic that was once dry, but now streaked with her tears. He pulled her onto his lab, and stroked her white hair the same color as his except for the grey tips and stroked her back as she sobbed. She stopped when she felt him murmuring words into the top of her head as she nuzzled him.

"Shok ebasit hissra Meraad astaarit meraad itwasit, aban aqun. Maraas shokra. Anaan esaam Qun." He said, and she smiled as he spoke the Qunari dialect. She loved it when he said words like this, the language was beautiful, truly beautiful.

"What does that mean?" She asked him, wiping her eyes.

"Struggle is an illusion. The tide rises, the tide falls, but the sea is changeless. There is nothing to struggle against. Victory is in the Qun." He replied, and she was surprised that he actually replied to her question.

"It's beautiful." She said, and he gave a small smile.

"Do you still wish to learn the ways of the Qun?" He asked. She nodded against him, but didn't look up at him.

"Yes I do…" She said, and he gave an approving grunt.

"Then I will teach you simple language tonight, but tomorrow I expect you to be able to start your training."

"Yes, Sten."

"Kadan…" He said, and Ion looked at him, confused.

"Kadan?" She asked him.

"Kadan." He said.

Somehow she understood.


	10. Chapter 10

As the landsmeet grew closer, she grew stronger. She grew stronger in both body and mind. Sten trained her every morning in the form of battle, and in the evenings she was trained in the ways of the Qun. In between those, she would wander the estate and would be with her friends, and she soothed Leliana's sadness by being near her and offering a shoulder to cry on. Sure, she hated the bard, but this was a person with a sad soul and she would comfort her if it would make her feel better.

She had guessed that over the months that she had been absent that Leliana and Alistair had started what the others called a "deer in the headlights" sort of relationship. The newest addition named Oghren said that they "humped like nugs in breeding season" and Morrigan said that it was sickening to watch the growing relationship. But when they had brought back the queen, she had immediately told Eamon that if they were to join forces and have an arranged marriage, that Leliana was to go.

This was when Ion wanted to go up to Eamon and push him out the tallest window in the estate. She honestly thought that he was a stupid fool that needed to look at his own problems before starting any other problems in the actual group.

Shale was friendlier toward Ion too, and they went bird hunting whenever possible, but always in her human form. Ion had yet to go into her wolf form again.

Zevran showed her the collection of Smut that he had acquired, and even showed her a book that told of a Qunari romance. She quickly looked around for Sten and snatched the book to hide under her mattress. She would read it later.

Morrigan was always by her side whenever she had no one else. She was still reading the black tome, and every time they would converse, Morrigan would look like she wanted to tell her something, but would resist and go back into her shell.

A week before the landsmeet, Sten cornered Ion.

"You have been foolish, Kadan." He stated.

"What do you mean, Kadan? I have done nothing that has been foolish." She said, looking at him in the eye. He snorted.

"Then you are being a coward, you need to face the wolf sometime."

She understood. She hadn't changed from her human form to her wolf form in several months, since before she had been captured. She hesitated with answering him.

"When I change, this time it will hurt because my body is not used to it, after this change though, my body will be better acquainted… but this time will be painful."

"More painful than death when you are cornered and have no weapon?" He asked, and she had to admit he did have a point.

"Alright, meet me in the back guardians. Bring Morrigan just in case."

"In case what?"

"In case I need someone to put a spell on me that will knock me out if the pain is too intense."

"Fine, Kadan."

"P-Panahedan Kadan." She said, hoping that she got the word right. He nodded his approval of her using the Qunari word for "Goodbye"

"Panahedan Kadan." He answered and went to go and get Morrigan while she went to the back gardens.

"Alright, I am ready!" She called to the two that were waiting for her. Ion had her eyes shut tight, and her fists balled to her side. She was eager to call up her other form, but also scared because of the pain that it will bring her.

She closed her eyes, and willed the change to happen. At once she kneeled as the pain spread through her body. Her whole frame started to shutter, and popping noises of bones elongating and rearranging themselves. Her face grew, her whole body grew larger and stronger. White fur sprouted around her body as her tail tipped with grey sprang from her back. The last part of the change quickly came when the snapping of the spine could be heard.

She was slightly thinner than when they had last seen her in her wolf form, but she yipped and was very happy to be in this form. She felt the raw power of her change, and felt it transfer to both of her forms, and felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

After this, Sten got her back into the training routines, but they were more intense, and she soon remembered how to fight in her other form. Not that she had necessarily forgotten, but she was very rusty. On the eve of the Landsmeet, she could honestly say that she was ready. Ready to end this stupid war and focus on the Blight.

She was wandering the halls, and it was late. She knew that everyone in her group had either passed out or had gone to bed. She couldn't sleep, her wolf side was too restless and she was not so good either. So imagine her surprise when she turned a corner, and there he was.

She had no known at the time, but the other Grey Warden, the senior Grey Warden Riordan had born witness to her torture, and rape. He had been dragged into the chamber and had to witness her being hurt and broken as a way to break himself. She had never really gotten a chance to talk to him about it, and he had taken great care to avoid her. Now she came face to face with him.

"Shanedan, Brother." She greeted him. He twitched but answered her.

"Good evening sister, why out of bed so late?"

"I am restless, and I fear that if I do fall asleep that I'll end up sleeping through the Blight itself."

"I see…" He trailed off awkwardly. She sighed, time to break the ice.

"Listen, brother. Do not feel awkward around me. What you witnessed is not a secret, I have already informed my group of what happened, and I have already come to terms and accepted that there was no way around it. I have moved on, so you do not have to carry it any longer."

"May I, speak bluntly?" He asked, and she nodded.

"I— I have seen woman who went through similar circumstances of what you went through, and they were never the same… I mean that they never smiled, they never were happy, they were…dead. But you, you recovered so fast, and you were— a virgin. I still have nightmares of when they first did it to you, and they laughed as they took you harshly, and yet you have recovered. You stand here ready to face your enemy, your tormenter without even backing down. I— only wish that I could've known you for longer, for I believe that your courage would boost moral of even the most pathetic beaten sods."

She was speechless. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes were wide. She quickly recovered to answer him, when something else called to her.

"Kadan!"

It was Sten. She smiled at her fellow Grey Warden.

"Panahedan Brother." She said, and walked to her Kadan.

He moved to the side so that she could pass, and she didn't notice the look that passed between the two men behind her back. Sten nodded once to the man, and he nodded to the giant. An understanding message passed between them, and they went their separate ways.

Sten walked behind her as he walked her to her room. She sighed when she got there, and knew now that she was to have a guard that now escorted her around the whole estate. She guessed that she couldn't blame them because the last time she went off on her own…

As she bid Sten goodnight, she turned into her room after he looked around to make sure that it was empty. She walked to her bed, and shed her clothing so that she could sleep in her other form. It made her feel more safe, and her senses were more heightened when she did this, so that would be less of a chance of her being ambushed again.

When the sun rose she rose with it, and waited for Sten to open her door to get her up. He paused in surprise when he saw her in her other form, before nodding in approval. He fell a step in behind her and they walked to the dinning room which she had found her third day when she had explored more of the estate.

When she got into the room she found that it was thick with tension. Ion saw that the Queen had graced them all with her presence and her maid was also there with them. Alistair was forced to sit by her side while she quietly bickered with him over some sort of thing for royalty.

Leliana sat next to Zevran both of them wore leather amour. Oghren was passed out cold on the table and Morrigan had yet to get up. Shale was not allowed inside the estate, and was probably hunting birds outside, and Wynne was no where to be seen. The Arl was looking over the two royals that were bickering with hake eyes, and she noticed when all conversations faded away that they were all looking at her. The Queen's face paled by several shades when she noticed the giant wolf, Ion had yet to introduce them.

"Shanedan, Queen." Ion said flicking back her ears and bowed to the best of her ability in her wolf form.

"Warden Amell?" The Queen questioned, slowly standing up as she put a hand on her chest as Ion smelt her accelerated breathing along with a quickened heartbeat.

"Our Sister here has a rare ability as a mage, to be able to turn into a wolf. You should not fear her, Your Majesty for she is here to protect along with upholding the Grey Warden order." Riorden came into the room. She had forgotten about him.

"I like this form better than the other one… it makes me feel more comfortable." She admitted to the queen as she walked across the room to head butt her senior officer. He patted her on the shoulder and went to the table to get something to eat.

She was not hungry, she had too many butterflies in her stomach to even attempt to eat something. She settled down over near the giant table while the others ate their breakfasts.

"Warden, errrr Ion was it? I require a word from you." Eamon said, she lifted her head up in surprise when she heard that. He had never really spoken directly to her.

"Kadan, I can handle this…" She said when she sensed Sten about to get up from his seat. He sat down after a disapproving look at her.

She got up and followed the Arl out of the room. She continued to follow him after several halls until he finally spoke.

"I know that my wife has not made life easy for you… and I also know that she has been keeping things from me. What I tell you know is… difficult. I knew that she was up to something but I had no idea, truly Warden."

"What did she do Arl Eamon? You may tell me, for I may have already have an idea of what she did."

Ion had suspected that in knowing a secret that would unravel the Arlessa's little life like her son being a mage, or her affair with any man that walked around. She knew that the Arlessa had been one of the people behind her sudden capture and "extended stay" in Howe's clutches.

"Take you time, sir, for I know that saying this will not be easy for you."

"I just… she… she was so sweet when we met and married. I— I am truly sorry, Ion. Riorden told me what that bastard did to you… and to know that my wife was a part of it. Then I find out that— that she kept the fact that our son was a mage, he is at the Circle tower now, but still… I have sent her away. She is living in one of our Estates and to be truthful I am glad to be rid of her and I am truly sorry for all the pain that she has caused you."

"I thank you Arl, for coming to me with this. It must have been a truly hard decision."

He gave a shaky laugh.

"Truth be told, Rioden told me that I needed to tell you alone, and if I were to do that I needed to have a troop of guards near me just in case you got pissed and attacked me."

"I hope you also asked someone else and they told you not to lie to me about it, because I don't like it whenever people lie."

"You… know whenever people lie?"

"Yep. And all you told me was truth, so I thank you."

"No, I thank you for being so forgiving. I— am also sorry again."

"You have now completely made me happy for saying that. I thank you again, Arl Eamon." She said, and bowed to him. She chose that moment to walk away from him, letting him have a moment to collect his thoughts and to realize that she was not going to rip him apart for his wife's faults.

She stopped walking once out of the Arl's sight.

"You can come out now, both of you." She called to what seemed like a empty shady hall. Zevran and Leliana quickly walked out of the shadows.

"How long did you know it was us, bonita?" He asked as she stated to walk again, falling in one step beside her. Leliana took her other side, and put a warm hand on her flank which she allowed since Leliana was having a really bad day.

"Long enough to have done something about it, but I know that both of you couldn't resist listening so I'll let it slide for now."

"Well, now that we know that you're not too mad about us eavesdropping, lets get you ready, you'll need to look presentable, non?"

Ion stopped in her tracks.

"What?"

"For the Landsmeet, what everyone is waiting to tell you is that you, one have to go in you human form." Leliana began, and pushed her toward her room which her shocked body instantly did.

"And two, Bonita, you are to wear extravagant clothing, must look good, Si?"

"No. There is no way you are dressing me up like a piece of arm candy!" She snarled as they slowly steered her into the room.

When she stumbled into the room, she snarled at the sight of a long red dress that was draped over her bed.

"There is no fucking way." She snarled, and they blinked. This was the first time she had ever cursed at them.

"It is either this, or not going."

"Then I am not going! I would rather wear fur than a freaking demining dress that makes the males of the room get exited."

"What about Alistair. You would let him face this alone?" A new voice asked, and she turned to see Morrigan leaning against the far wall.

"You have a responsibility, Iona. Do not quit it just because of a moment of uncomfortable dealings." Wynne's gentle voice rang through her ears.

"Fine. Just… don't overdo it." She said, caving in.


	11. Chapter 11

When she descended the grand stairs, there was a collective silence that filled the room. All eyes were on her, and she almost felt embarrassed at the attention.

Her hair had been put half up, to be braided and curled in random places, while the rest of her hair trailed down in light waves down her shoulders and back. Both of her arms were clothed in deep red gloves, and thigh high boots clothed her legs. The dress was not tight, but it was a deep crimson with a slit up the side that was lined with golden trim. What shocked them all was her face, usually clean and untouched of makeup was not the complete opposite. Black lined her eyes, as gold flicked whenever she closed her eyes, her eyes were a full gold as were her lips. A light blush settled on her face and it only helped to accentuate the makeup. When she closed her eyes, her painted eyelashes made shadows appear upon her face. Ion was truly beautiful.

Beside her, in his full plate mail with the helm fully closed with Asala strapped behind his back was Sten. He had his arm in hers. It looked like beauty being escorted by the beast. Everyone was speechless, stunned.

"Alright, are we all ready?" Asked the Queen breezily, but she looked irritated. Jealousy did not suit her, she looked like a rusty sword compared to Ion's glorious shine.

"Yes." Both answered at the same time by Sten and Iona.

Only a small party was allowed to go to the Landsmeet. The Queen and Alistair would be going arm and arm, and Ion had chosen Sten. The others could've come, but there would be no weapons allowed, and Ion knew that if that was true then Sten would've been stubborn enough to bring Asala anyway.

Zevran took Leliana's hand (Ion saw Alistair glare daggers at him when he did this) and Wynne and Morrigan brought up the rear. All wore colorful clothing, and Ion could've sworn that she saw knifes hidden in both Zevran's boots along with Leliana's.

Shale stayed behind, but bided them all good luck with squashing the "bastard bird son's head".

When they entered the Landsmeet chamber, she heard Loghain's voice speaking. She growled low, but continued into the room to the middle. Eyes followed their group, and when Loghain's eyes laid upon her standing there strong with her eyes glowing he faltered. But soon he was back to spouting nonsense, and only broke off completely when he saw Alistair and Anoura standing beside each other.

They exchanged verbal blows until there was a call for a vote. Only one sided with Loghain, the rest sided with the Wardens. His cool eyes flamed, and then he shouted for a duel. Alistair met him head on, and she watched as they exchanged blows.

Loghain was slow, fat from his life in the palace, and was soon bested.

"Stop, Alistair!" The Queen shouted, as Alistair was granted a chance to end it all.

"You promised! You and your group promised me that you would not kill him!" She shouted. Alistair lowered his blade, and stood there for a moment.

"Restrain her." He commanded, and for a moment I saw the King that he would be, the king that he was destined to be.

Ion nodded at Sten, and he helped Zevran and Leliana with restraining the Queen.

"Stop! Get you hands off of me! You have promised Alistair!" She shouted, struggling against the ones that bound her.

"I did." He said, locking eyes with Ion, as he sheathed his sword and walked to his new wife, the Queen. He leaned over to her looking her in the eyes, and whispering so softly that one she and Ion could hear.

"_she _didn't." He said, indicating to Ion. Ion blinked for a moment, and looked at the defeated warrior in the middle of the room.

"No!" The Queen shouted, realizing her mistake.

The room was silent then, the only sound was Ion's footsteps to the man that was responsible for the trauma and torture, for killing her entire order. She looked at the man who had killed Duncan, who gave her a taste of freedom.

"Sten." She said, and there was the sound of metal being unsheathed. A second later it was twirling in the air to be caught in her hand.

She wielded Asala as she turned around and sliced cleanly through Loghain's head. The Queen's sobs and screams echoed in the room as she wiped Asala clean of the traitor's blood and gave the blade back to Sten. She gave Alistair a nod and walked from the room, Sten following her along with the rest of their group.

"My friend. I wish to have a word with you, if I may…" Morrigan said hesitant to approach the wolf. Ion had not said a word the rest of the day, and even in night she still had her eyes glowing gold.

"Go ahead. Tell me what has been on you mind ever since you have gotten that black book." Was the reply that Morrigan got.

"I should not be surprised that you knew about this, but I must ask you a favor…"

And so Morrigan explained the way that Flemeth had increased her lifespan, how she would have a daughter and how Morrigan feared for her own body. She asked that Ion travel to the wilds, for she was the only one that could do this and still make it back to Redcliff in time. She wanted Flemeth dead, and she would be forever in Ion's dept.

"You wish for me to defeat this monster so that you can be free?"

"Yes… I am sorry for not speaking of it sooner, but I never really had… the courage to talk to you."

"I will do it then, for you. Do not tell the other where I am going, just tell them that I am gone."

"I will… and I thank you my friend."


	12. Chapter 12

**Warning: Lemon**

Blood filled her mouth as she sated her bloodlust upon the older woman that had threatened her friend. She ripped the Witch of the Wilds to shreds, and grabbing the key from her pocket she grabbed the black book that was so similar to Morrigan's. She carried it, running across the land to Redcliff.

She met with some of the Dalish that had been in the Clan that she had saved, and traveled with them for the rest of the journey. When she arrived at the estate she was announced and Eamon greeted her and showed her to her room. Morrigan was already waiting for her and took the book with a grateful look.

Alistair came into her room soon after saying that Riorden wished for their company. Ion quickly changed and put on a simple dress to greet her Senior Commander with. She had hoped for good news, but there was none that would be had that day.

It would be the price of the Warden's that one would have to die in order for the evil to be vanquished. She listened to this with no expression, and she made up her mind. If it came down to it, she would take that blow herself, and she would leave this place with the hope that Alistair would be King, and rule with promise.

When Riorden was done explaining everything, she walked back to her room to strip down into nothing and to climb into bed.

He was slowly pacing around her door. She could hear him, slowly coming and going from both ends of the hall. He was muttering words that would fade and come near her. Ion slowly got up and walked to the door to open it on the pacing Qunari.

"Kadan?" She asked sleepily, as she looked at him. He was tense, and there was a sort of aura around him that made her very wary.

"Ka— Ion. May I… come in?" He asked, she blinked when he used her real name. It was something that she had never heard him say before.

She stepped aside for him to come in, she was rubbing her eyes and knew that she needed sleep for the upcoming battle.

"You wear nothing as usual…" He commented, looking her over. She smiled.

"Of course I don't wear anything, if I have to change then there goes another nightgown that I don't own." She said, smiling. He did not show any emotion as he sighed.

There was a confliction going behind his eyes.

"Kadan?" Ion asked as she shut the door, and then locked it. Sten ran a hand through his hair that he had yet to braid, and sighed heavily again. He sat down heavily on her bed and cradled his head in his hands.

Ion quickly went to him, and kneeled down in front of him. She hesitated before cupping his face in her hand and pulling him up so that he could look at her. She wedged her way in between his knees and cupped his face with both of her hands. She forced him to look at her.

"Kadan?" She tried again, but still with no success of reaching him through his thoughts.

"Sten!" She yelled at him, and his eyes flicked to her own eyes, that had gone golden with anxiety.

He looked her over, his eyes flicking over her face as if to reassure him as to if she was still there, and then his great hand reached over to cup her own face, pulling her close to him, and she realized that she was kneeling right between his legs, but she didn't care. They were Kadan, and he had told her of the Qun's strict "no loving sex" policy, so she had no fear as she would have with any other man.

"Good, I feared that you had retreated too deep in thought for me to reach you… I am glad that you snapped out of it." She said with a smile.

His face was still so stone-like. He had no expression, or had given any indication that he had heard her speak. He was just staring at her, her face, his eyes were scanning it wildly.

"Kadan?" She asked him. He was silent for another moment, until he opened up his lips and tense words came out of his mouth.

"Ion… tonight…" He murmured. She looked puzzled.

"Sten? What is the matter? What's going on tonight?"

He forced her to look at him, her head completely immobile in his grasp.

"Tonight. There will be no Qun. Tonight we are just… non Qunari. Tonight we may go against the teachings, or we may just… Tonight only we will not be bound by the Qun. You are not a Saarebas and I am not the Sten. We are free for this one night."

She didn't understand. She wasn't sure what he was trying to say, and the confusion must've been in her eyes because Sten lunged forward and his lips came down upon hers. She was shocked at his actions, but even more shocked at her response. She was kissing him back with such vigor that it shocked her. A fire was inside her soul, and she felt herself give into the desire that had been stroking along her coconsciousness. She pushed him onto his back and onto the bed where her naked body covered his, and her long hair was being treaded between his dark fingers while her hands roamed his muscular body beneath hers.

She felt him groan when she shifted them so that he was on top, and using that time she ripped off his dark tunic to expose his rippling chest to the firelight along with getting rid of the constricting clothing. She let herself explore his body, forgetting the scares that she had along her soul that was telling her that she should run, she pushed back the images of the men who had taken her in the Howe Estate, and she reminded herself that this was Sten. She trusted him.

She hesitantly ran her hands up and down his exposed flesh, dotted with white pale scares, but ridded with muscles. His groan of approval made her more confident, and she began to lightly dig her nails into his back. His mouth left hers as he gently kissed and nibbled along her neck, and she exposed her throat to him, allowing him to know that he was dominate.

She clamped her teeth together when she felt him his a spot that made her whole body jerk with the feeling that it made. A moan almost slipped through her lips, but she felt something twist in her lower core. She rubbed her legs together to find that they were slick with juice.

"I… am… wet…" She whispered, confused. A cry slipped again as he moved from her neck to her breasts, what little ones that she had and began to attend to those with his mouth.

"You are aroused." He corrected her, and she looked down at him just in time to see one of his hands move toward her throbbing core.

Her mind literally went blank when he touched her, just the barest of touches and she was already liquid in his arms. He gently stroked her, not entering, but letting her get used to the fact that he was touching her down there. When a finger slipped into her entrance she gasped as her body clamped down upon that single digit.

He moved it slowly, gently, and she found herself thrusting up to meet his trusts. When a second one was added, she felt a slow twisting in her core as he moved with her as she sped up. He added a third and she felt like her whole world was going to explode, as they aimed and hit a spot inside her that made her see stars. She didn't realize that Sten had moved his mouth down her body until she felt his wet muscle sweep over her outer lips, searching for the bud that would bring her over the edge. When he hit it, she felt the dam inside of her twist and release with a jerk of muscle she went taunt as waves of pleasure went through her.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she struggled to control her breathing as the waves hit her. soon they subsided and she calmed down her breathed, and she opened her eyes as she looked into Sten's brown ones. She felt amazing, never had she had a feeling like this before.

Her mind then took a turn as her body tensed as she felt him sweep across her throbbing core. She hadn't realized that he had taken off his pants.

"Calm, Ion. This will be gentle, you have no reason to not trust that I will be gentle."

"I know, Sten, but…"

"Do not think of those _animals_ that touched you. They are never going to do so again. This is you and me, Ion."

"I know…" She groaned when he stroked his length along her slit.

"Then do not fear."

"I know that you would never hurt me, I am yours, Sten." She groaned.

"For tonight, Kadan."

"For tonight."

He was at her entrance, and slowly he pushed his way into her. No amount of preparation could prepare her for the pain that she felt. But he slowly went in, he was gentle as he promised. When he got as much in as he could, she was allowed a moment to adjust before he moved.

Soon, they were moving together and when they came she felt a moment of peace.

After he held her, knowing that this was a moment that would only happen this night. When there was a nock at her door, he kissed her temple and she woke up to get ready. Ion knew that this was never going to happen again, and so she dressed, and helped him rebraid his hair.

They exited the room together, without a step out of line, not a hair out of place. Now they had a mission, and they would forget their feelings and become one with the Qun.


	13. Chapter 13

It was endless. She had joined the men to battle for the gates, and it seemed like it would never end. She was constantly changing and healing others, she would change to human to heal, then change into a wolf to protect. It was costing her a lot of strength to keep this up.

But then she sensed something, something was wrong. She knew that they were battling the Archdemon, for she could hear the whispers in her head about pain and suffering. But then she got a solid vision, through the dragon's eyes and it had thrown all of the others back, and they were in trouble.

"Leliana!" She roared as the archer saw her. Knowing something was wrong, Leliana charged through the fray and climbed onto her great back.

Ion had let Sten fight with Alistair, and her heart leapt in her throat when she charged into the city, killing all manners of evil in her path. She climbed the tower and at the top she saw the destruction that the dragon had made. She felt rage take her when she saw Sten hopelessly battling the dragon, and as Leliana slipped from her back to check upon the others that were there. She launched herself at the dragon's face and clawed and tarred at its eyes. It roared and tried to throw her off of it. It succeeded but was blinded and dying.

When she hit the stone, she changed back and looked around, finding what she was searching for. Grabbing the discarded great sword she held it and charged the dragon, cutting deep into its neck and as it fell she used all that was in her to plunge the sword into its skull.

At once a giant white light came to be as its soul filled her, and she concentrated on her healing ability to spread out to those that were hurt on this battlefield and used all that she had so that they would live. She did not care what or who lived, but as the end drew near she let out a great cry and twisted the sword. A great force shot from the sword and she felt darkness take her.

Ion watched them from her place in the bushes. She had a great sword strapped to her back, and Mhairi was at her side. She sensed them up head, and her eyes went gold as her wolf rose to the surface. They had taken the Keep, but that was only a matter of time. Their victory was only temporary.

She fingered the letter that was in her satchel as she looked ahead to try to formulate a plan for breeching the Keep. She nodded to Mhairi and let out a roar as she charged them with her sword blazing. They would take it back, for she was a Grey Warden Commander, for now. She reminded herself that after this role, she would have her own freedom. In the Qun. She remembered his last letter, both of their last letters.

_My dearest Ion,_

_ Things here are going fine, I have already "chatted" with the targets that you found for me, and I hope that soon I will be close enough to get to the one that I have told you about. Soon the Crows will fly or die and I will escort you into the arms of the beast. _

_ I hope that you are well my friend._

_ Zev._

_ Kadan,_

_ We have moved from Pol Vallon to a new place. This place reeks of those that no not of the suffering that they cause and they seek to consume the whole city because they only take and take never to give back. The chaos is astounding._

_ The Arishok has reviewed over what I have told him, and he has expressed interest about meeting the woman who defeated the mighty dragon, the woman who is willing to submit to the Qun as a Saarebas, and who has also deserved the role as my Kadan._

Anaan esaam Qun_._

_ Sten. _


	14. AN

**So I have decided something, and I want to know how many people would be very happy with this. So I wrote this whole story in around a span of two days. That's right, almost a year ago I wrote this whole thing. Two days. Yeah, I had too much free time on my hands… I get that now.**

**What I wanted to ask all of you, would you like it if I went back and re wrote the story, fleshing out the rushed paragraphs and adding more detail? OR would you what me to continue this how it is… very choppy and almost impulsive? Let me know and I will try to see what I can do.**

**Thank you all for the continued support. It means a lot to me.**

**Angel. **


End file.
